Adeli is particularly stricken by the small impact crater within the largest crater, which points to ice and glaciers buried beneath the surface. “These craters are filled with a mixture of ice and dust, covered by a layer of debris and dust protecting these deposits from quick sublimation,” she says. This means that, while ice would rapidly turn to gas under current atmospheric conditions, surface material preserved below should continue to exist underground.

A story of martian wind

The images also tell the story of Mars' blustery past, says Alice Baldridge, associate professor and director in the Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences at Saint Mary’s College. “Windswept, dark volcanic surfaces to the north and bright, dusty, wind-streaked plains to the south” reveal materials that have shifted and weathered as gusty conditions shaped their formation, she told Astronomy.