--- title: "NASA Releases Image of Epic Lines Carved Into Mars’ Surface" description: "A new image captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an up-close and stunning look at what's known as an ice flow." date: "2023-12-23" modified: "2023-12-23" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-epic-lines-mars-surface" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "the digest" --- # NASA Releases Image of Epic Lines Carved Into Mars’ Surface ![A new image captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an up-close and stunning look at what's known as an ice flow.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Line Art Mars' striking geography continues to stun. NASA has [released a new image]() of the Red Planet's surface, showing a magnificent gradient of ridged lines carved into ground by ice gradually inching across the landscape. The image was captured in August by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), a spacecraft that's been keeping a close eye on the planet since 2006. These frosty formations are what's described as an ice flow. Though Mars is a desert world, it's a cold one, with sand sometimes intermingling with ice in its chillier climes. It has a northern and southern polar ice cap, where sheets of frozen water and dust permanently cover the surface. The planet is also home to seasonal ice caps [composed of dry ice]() that can form above the permanent water ice layers. Occasionally, such ice deposits can be found outside the polar caps, like in this image. Per NASA's release, the ice is flowing downhill, sucking up rocks and soil as it continues its slow advance. This can go on for thousands of years, creating these distinctive furrowed patterns in the landscape. https://twitter.com/HiRISE/status/1691812259029196810 ## Record Keepers Ice formations are of interest to scientists because they can be closely examined to reveal the history of Mars' climate, not unlike how [ice cores are studied on Earth](). The MRO plays a major part in that, thanks to its [High resolution Imaging Science Experiment]() (HiRISE) instrument, "the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet." The spacecraft can image the Martian surface in extreme detail, and with the help of its other instruments, even track the distribution of dust in water in the atmosphere, as well as hunting for the geological remnants of long extinct bodies of water. In 2011, MRO was used to [discover the first signs of the dry ice sheets]() mentioned above. Since then, scientists have recently shown that [these Martian glaciers are moving](). Hopefully, there will be no shortage of cold clues to come that will reveal to us more secrets about Mars' past. **More on Mars:** *[Mars' Magnetosphere Suddenly Tripled in Size Last Christmas Day]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()