The European Space Agency releases the latest photos of the Grand Canyon of Mars | Mars Express | Epoch Times

[The Epoch Times, July 26, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Di Rui compiled and reported) The European Space Agency (ESA) releasedMars Expresstaken by the Mars Express probeMarsLatest photos of Valles Marineris.

Canyon Mariner is 4,000 kilometers long, 200 kilometers wide and 7 kilometers deep at its deepest point, making it the longest known canyon on any planet in the solar system. Compared with the famous Grand Canyon in Arizona, Mariner Canyon is 10 times longer, 20 times wider and 5 times deeper.

This new set of photos byMars Expresscaptured by the high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC).This camera has been sent back beforeMarsPhotos of various terrains like volcanoes, lava pools, riverbeds and more. It is capable of taking full-color 3D photos with a resolution of up to 10 meters.

mars canyonSize comparison chart with the outline of the United States. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The Grand Canyon of the United States was formed by the long-term erosion of the Colorado River, while the Martian Mariner Canyon was formed by the cracking of the ground caused by the crustal movement.

The photo shows two chasms in the west of the canyon, a large number of parallel lines, and some terrain that looks like a pile of rubble, which ESA believes indicates a recent landslide event there.

The terrain there is rough, ESA said, suggesting that the gulfs were previously filled with liquid material. These unusual topographical features are left behind when they evaporate.

Mars Express is an orbiter around Mars that departed from Earth to Mars in June 2003. That was the moment when Mars and Earth were closest to each other. Such an opportunity arises every 26 months.

After a six-month flight, Mars Express arrived on Mars in December 2003, orbiting Mars along a near-polar orbit, and began various tasks to explore Mars: taking a large number of photos, detecting the material structure under the Martian crust , and analyzing the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere. ◇

Responsible editor: Ye Ziwei

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.