ExoMars TGO view of frost-fringed polygons
This image shows frost-fringed polygonal terrain on a cold springtime morning in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars as seen by the CaSSIS (Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System) instrument on ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. The polygons form due to repeated freeze-thaw cycles.
The data for this image were captured by CaSSIS on 21 June 2020. It is centred at 55°S, 67°E near Dorsa Brevia. North is to the top of the image.
This image is included in a new release from ESA’s Mars Express, which also highlighted these cryptic features on the martian surface. The full CaSSIS image is available here with file name MY35_011497_286_0.
[Image description: A slice of the martian surface shown in grey shades and lit from the lower left. The centre-right of the image is dominated by a circular, partially eroded crater filled with frosty white intersecting lines that create near-rectangular and other irregular polygonal shapes. This texture is also seen elsewhere in the scene.]
