14 DAY TRIAL // The (full) image above shows patches of Martian ices, produced during the winter. Experts managing the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) experiment aboard the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) wanted to image them recently, but got a surprise instead.
The extremely accurate instrument was blocked in its attempt to image the surface by sporadic cloud covers. While Mars is not exactly known for its overactive atmosphere, clouds do form from time to time, and predicting when that will happen is just as difficult as it is on Earth.
Despite this natural obstacle, the instrument was able to capture a few glimpses of the dry ices covering some patches of surface. Most of the remaining ices are located within shallow grooves.
MRO has been orbiting the Red Planet since March 10, 2006, and has since collected vast volumes of data on the Red Planet. HiRISE is managed by experts at the University of Arizona.