Valles Marineris on Mars, 20 times wider than the Grand Canyon, is seen in this stunning new photo
The huge Valles Marineris Valley has been revealed in stunning new images taken by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express.
The Valley of the Red Planet is 2,485 miles long, over 124 miles wide and over 4 miles deep, making America look pretty dim by comparison. Vallis Marineris stretches from the northern tip of Norway to the southern tip of Sicily.
The new image depicts two moats, or chasmas, that make up the western part of Valles Marineris. On the left is the lus Chasma which is 521 miles long and on the right is the Tithonium Chasma which is 500 miles long.
The image uses data from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) aboard Mars Express and is a “true color” image, meaning it shows what the human eye would see if it looked at this region of Mars.
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A tilted perspective view of the Tithonium Chasma (pictured above), which is part of the Martian Valles Marineris valley structure, created from a digital, analog channel and color model of the terrain from the high-resolution stereo camera on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express.
The huge valley of the red planet has been revealed in new images released by the European Space Agency. The new image depicts two moats, or chasmas, that make up the western part of Valles Marineris. On the left is the Lus Chasma which is 521 miles long and on the right is the Chasma Tithonium which is 500 miles long.
The Red Planet Canyon is 2,485 miles long, over 124 miles wide, and over 4 miles deep, making America’s Grand Canyon look bad by comparison.
This image of Tethonium Chasma shows parallel lines and piles of debris (top right) showing a recent landslide.
Above is an illustration of a tilted view of the giant Valles Marineris Valley system on Mars. The canyon was formed by a combination of geological faults, landslides, wind erosion and ancient water flows
When viewed from its height, the highest mountain in the Alps, Mont Blanc – rising more than 15,000 feet above sea level – would be a dwarf if placed within the Tithonium Chasma.
Unlike America’s Grand Canyon, which formed about 5 million years ago when the Colorado River eroded, the Red Planet’s massive canyon is thought to have formed due to the erosion of tectonic plates.
At the top of the Tithonium Chasma, a patch of dark sand – possibly from a nearby volcanic area – provides color contrast to the image.
Next to the dark dune are two light-colored dunes, one of which is divided in half by the top picture frame.
This image taken by Mars Express shows a perspective view of Mesa in the eastern region of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System.
The Red Planet’s enormous Valles Marineris—which spans about a quarter of the planet’s circumference—is seen above (center) in this image from the Granger Group.
Lus and Tithonium Chasmata seen above. The area outlined in the dark white box shows the area imaged by the Mars Express High Resolution stereo camera on April 21, 2022 during orbit.
These hills are actually very large, with a height of over 9,800 feet. For perspective, Mount Hesperus in Alaska, the highest peak in the Revelation Mountains, rises 9,828 feet.
The hilly surface has been severely eroded by strong Martian winds: the typical average wind speed on the Red Planet is 125 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 300-375 miles per hour.
A series of small outcrops can be seen between the large hills.
Mars Express previously found sulfate minerals containing water in this area, according to the European Space Agency.
The space agency says this suggests the bulge formed when the liquid that once filled the gap evaporated – but this has been disputed by scientists.
The ESA said in a statement.
These instructions can also be seen in the topographical image below.
The ESA explained that “the landslide was caused by the collapse of the valley wall on the right, and likely occurred relatively recently because it did not experience severe erosion.”
“Ius Chasma’s evil territory is also extraordinary.
“When the tectonic plates separated, it appears to have caused the formation of a jagged rock triangle that looks like a row of shark teeth.”
Over time, rock formations collapse and erode.
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express rover has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2003 to perform various scientific experiments, including imaging the surface of Mars, mapping its minerals, determining the composition and circulation of its atmosphere, and exploring beneath its crust.
It was NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover as well as the exploration of the Red Planet for about a year and a half. The US space agency wants to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk has long said that humans must colonize Mars and become a multi-planet species in order to maintain and expand consciousness in the universe.
Image above: color-coded topographic image showing Ius and Tithonium Chasmata, which are part of the structure of the Valles Marineris Gorge on Mars, created from data collected by ESA’s Mars Express.
In the image above, a computer illustration of the Valles Marineris Valley on the red planet, the largest valley in the solar system
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