The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has just released this photograph of an avalanche in progress on the surface of Mars. The avalanche was caught by the HI-RISE imager on Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft. The avalanche took place in Mars’ northern polar region in late May, during spring. With the rising temperatures, ice vaporises (Martian atmospheric pressures are too low to allow liquid water on the planet’s surface), destabilising ice blocks, which then break loose and slide down into the valley below. In the process they kick up lots of dust.
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