NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory published a status update Saturday on high-resolution imaging of gullies carved into Martian slopes.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s camera team documented fresh debris flows suggesting seasonal frost or briny seeps may still reshape certain inclines.
Geologists compare Martian gullies with terrestrial landforms shaped by water, dry granular flows and carbon dioxide sublimation.
Repeated passes allow scientists to detect changes pixel by pixel, narrowing mechanisms that operate in the planet’s thin atmosphere.
Findings feed into landing-site assessments for rovers that must avoid unstable terrain near crater walls.
Researchers emphasized that gullies alone do not prove recent liquid water, but they constrain where transient moisture might appear.
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