JANUARY 24, 2004
Valles Marineris from Mars Express
EXPLANATION
Looking down from orbit on January 14, ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft scanned a 1700 by 65 kilometer swath across Valles Marineris—the Grand Canyon of Mars—with its remarkable High Resolution Stereo Camera. This spectacular picture reconstructs part of the scanned region from the stereo colour image data recording the rugged terrain with a resolution of 12 metres per pixel. Joining Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, Mars Express has been orbiting the red planet since December 25th, returning scientific data, acting as a communications relay, and even making coordinated atmospheric observations with NASA’s Spirit rover on the surface. The Beagle 2 lander was released from Mars Express making a landing attempt also on December 25th, but no signal has been received so far.
Credit
Mars Express, ESA, DLR, FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
