Fading Rover-Tracks near Victoria Crater

In this composite image, we show a close-up of the Rover Tracks, as well as 6 previous HiRISE views acquired since June 2007, shortly after Opportunity’s drive.

The span encompasses over a full Mars year, from Southern Spring to the following Summer. Both the Natural Color images at the top of each sequence and the False Color below show a progressive fading of the Tracks over time.

It seems that the Tracks were initially fairly red and then become bluer; this curious effect of color-change might have been due to the weight of the Rover which caused its wheels to push dark granules of rocks and dust into the relatively bright and orangish Martian Soil.

Since then, dark sand has blown out of Victoria and partially covered the Tracks, darkening the Surface.