Public domain
Hexagons in Icy Terrain
From the collection of NASA Image and Video Library. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Ground cemented by ice cover the high latitudes of Mars, much as they do on Earth's cold climates. A common landform that occurs in icy terrain are polygons as shown in this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Polygonal patterns form by winter cooling and contraction cracking of the frozen ground. Over time these thin cracks develop and coalesce into a honeycomb network, with a few meters spacing between neighboring cracks.
NASA Image and Video Library’s own descriptionCredit lineHexagons in Icy Terrain. NASA/JPL, 2018-01-23. Public domain. ID: PIA22180.
