File:PIA17909 A Large, Banded Angular Fragment in Nili Fossae.jpg

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Description	English: In a Context Camera (CTX) image, there is a large angular fragment that appears to have light and dark-toned bands. HiRISE images of similar fragments nearby also show this banding, and the resolution of our camera may help determine what these layers are. Nili Fossae was once considered a potential landing spot for the Mars Science Laboratory, and has one of the largest, most diverse exposures of clay minerals. Clay minerals contain water in their mineral structure and may preserve organic materials. HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Date	18 January 2014 (published 26 March 2014)
Source	Catalog page · Full-res (JPEG · TIFF)
Author	NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Location on Mars	19° 05′ 06″ N, 76° 32′ 38.4″ E	View this and other nearby images on: Google Maps	19.085000; 76.544000

This image or video was catalogued by Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: PIA17909.

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This media is a product of the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission
Credit and attribution belongs to the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) team, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

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