The incredible labyrinth of Mars
A new video, created from the Mars Express probe, allows you to fly over a gigantic labyrinth on Mars with an impressive level of detail.
The European Space Agency (ESA) makes us fly over a labyrinth-shaped canyon, more than 1600 kilometers long, on the Red Planet.
The animation, based on data from ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, takes viewers on a “mesmerizing flight over winding channels carved by water, islands that have resisted erosion and a labyrinth of rugged terrain”, using images taken by the spacecraft’s high-resolution stereoscopic camera, ESA officials said in a statement.
“At the center of the journey is a 1,300 km long drainage channel called Shalbatana Vallis that cascades from the mountainous region of Xanthe Terra to the gentler plains of Chryse Planitia. Billions of years ago, water flowed powerfully through this channel, creating many of the formations we see today.. The trip culminates in a spectacular view of a 100 km wide impact crater, opened on the surface of Mars when it collided with a space rock”, they explained.
As Live Science notes, eagle-eyed viewers will notice that the flight crosses the so-called “Martian dichotomy boundary,” where the craters of the southern highlands gradually turn into smoother plains in the northern lowlands. However, researchers still aren’t sure why.
Mars Express has been on Mars since 2003, examining the planet’s geology, in a mission that was initially scheduled for two years.
The probe remains operational and in good condition after more than 20 years of service, having received several mission extensions due to its valuable scientific results.
