A total of 1,035 images to be exact – taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been doing its thing for a decade now. Every month, the JPL-managed spacecraft dutifully sends back images of the red planet, alongside a handful of fellow Mars-orbiting space crafts.

As Popular Science points out, every 26 months or so, the MRO transmits a massive payload of shots from the planet’s surface, thanks the ideal positioning of Mars, Earth and the Sun. The result is a few weeks of stellar communications between the vessel and its home base, coupled and a really well-lit planetary surface.

Such highly detailed shots offer a lot of insight into the Martian landscape and could, perhaps, help facilitate future exploration. And, of course, they make for some really gorgeous glamor photos of our close — but still mysterious – next door neighbor.

You can view the August 3rd images over at the University of Arizona’s HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) page, along with plenty of older images from the mission.

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