Worth the wait

Remarkably, it took almost 15 years to acquire this image of Eos Chasma.

The image was requested during the first month of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s (MRO) primary science phase in November 2006, but due to numerous competing targets in the Valles Marineris system, the canyon had to patiently wait its turn. And it didn’t disappoint. This image shows a huge landslide has occurred, transporting rocks from the canyon’s walls down to its floor. The different colours visible to the MRO’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) indicate that many different minerals are present.