The BLACK sands of Mars have been revealed in breathtaking detail by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) orbiting satellite.
Mars Express, which has orbited the Red Planet for more than 20 years, shows a surprisingly diverse landscape in the desert world in newly rendered images.
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The new video features observations from Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), according to ESA.
It shows the orbiter sailing over the trenches of Nili Fossae, an area that has long been considered ideal for future human exploration.
It was even designated as a future landing site.
“Because of what it can tell us about Mars’ ancient, water-rich past, Nili Fossae was considered a possible landing site for NASA’s Curiosity rover, before the rover was finally sent to Gale Crater in 2012,” says ESA.
Located on the northwestern edge of the 1,900-kilometer-wide Isidis impact basin, Nili Fossae is a depression carved into the surface of Mars by a suspected impact about 4 billion years ago.
“The Nili Fossae trenches are actually features known as ‘grabens’, which form when the ground between two parallel faults fractures and falls,” explains ESA.
“As the graben appears to curve around Isidis Planitia, it is likely that they formed as Mars’ crust settled after the crater was formed by a space rock hitting the surface.”
Inside the Mars Express mission
Mars Express has been providing scientists on Earth with views of the Martian landscape since 2004.
The spacecraft was launched on June 2, 2003 and reached Mars orbit in December 2003, where it has remained ever since.
It was Europe’s first mission to the Red Planet, carrying eight instruments and the Beagle 2 lander in tow.
Although Beagle 2 was lost during its landing attempt, the orbiter is a 20-year success story.
Mars Express has provided scientists with invaluable data about Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, over the past two decades.
It provided the most complete map of the chemical composition of the atmosphere to date.
It also traced the history of water around the world, revealing that Mars once had conditions that could have hosted alien life.
Additionally, the spacecraft provided crucial relay communication services between Earth and NASA rovers on the surface of Mars.
Like the black sand beaches of Iceland, the area is thought to be home to basaltic terrain.
Scientists have also discovered olivine basalt sands in the region, which can have a green and black appearance.
According to ESA, scientists found an “impressive quantity and diversity of minerals found in this area, including silicates, carbonates and clays”.
“These minerals form in the presence of water, indicating that this region was very wet in ancient Martian history,” adds the space agency.
Scientists believe that water not only flowed across the surface of Mars, but also beneath it.
Nili Fossae is considered one of the regions with the greatest diversity of colors on the Red Planet – but it is not the only spectacle that future Mars tourists will be able to enjoy.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
