A new video of the European Space Agency (ESA) shows an impressive flyby of the Nili Fossae trenches on Mars that was constructed using data from the Mars Express mission. The spectacular landscapes of Mars They include huge mountains such as Mount Olympus, the largest mountain in the solar system, and deep canyons.
The trenches that make up Nili Fossae are hundreds of meters deep and kilometers long, with a set of parallel trenches forming a structure called a graben. The pits were formed when Mars was hit by a huge meteorite, which hit the surface billions of years ago and created an impact crater called Isidis Planitia. This impact basin is 1,200 miles in diameter, making it one of the largest on all of Mars. Whatever hit the surface must have been immensely powerful, as it also created the Nili Fossae trenches in addition to the crater.
Fly across Nili Fossae with ESA’s Mars Express
The data used to create this video comes from the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) instrument, which takes detailed images of the Martian surface. Scientists used these images, along with digital models of Mars’ terrain, to create a 3D representation of the landscape, which could then be turned into a flyby video. The video first shows the trenches of Nili Fossae, then pulls back to show an overhead view of the larger region, including the famous Jezero Crater, where the Perseverance rover is currently exploring.
NASA considered sending the previous Curiosity rover to this region because it has a variety of minerals that form in the presence of water, suggesting that there was probably a river, lake or other body of water here at some point in Earth’s history. Mars. However, it was finally decided to send the Curiosity rover to Gale Crater.
Nili Fossae has been the subject of other visualizations in the past, as a striking map of minerals on Mars. “Scientists have focused on Nili Fossae in recent years because of the impressive quantity and diversity of minerals found in this area, including silicates, carbonates and clays (many of which were discovered by the OMEGA instrument on Mars Express) », explains the ESA.
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