Mars Express, a mission of the European Space Agency, has given further information about the planet's varied surface characteristics. The mission's new images reveal remarkable ice-related structures in the Utopia area, holding the Solar System's most extensive known impact basin.
According to ESA officials, studying the frozen layers of Utopia Planitia might reveal more about the basin's complicated past, since scientists believe it was produced by the deposition of sediments, lavas, and volatile chemicals (like water or hydrogen).
This stereoscopic image shows Utopia Planitia on Mars, and was generated from data captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter on 12 July 2021 during orbit 22150. The anaglyph, derived from data acquired by the nadir channel and one stereo channel of the HRSC, offers a three-dimensional view when viewed using red-green or red-blue glasses.
Mars Express Share Ice-Related Features in Utopia Planitia
Devdiscourse said the most recent photographs that Mars Express shared reveal a section of Utopia Planitia. The 3,300 kilometer plain covers one of Mars' three main basins, Utopia.
On the left and right of the picture, you can observe large, smooth expanses of surface known as mantled deposits. These vast layers of ice and dust-rich material had smoothed the surface and were most likely deposited as snow when Mars' rotational axis was considerably more inclined than it is now.
ALSO READ: Layered Craters of Ice on Mars Hemisphere Give Insights on Planet's Climate 4 Million Years Ago
Two of the greatest impact craters are seen in the center, surrounded by double-layered debris mounds. The image's second-largest crater features a texture called 'brain terrain,' in which material has been distorted and bent in a concentric pattern, replicating the intricate patterns and ridges found on the surface of the human brain.
A dark-colored section to the right of the brain-textured crater was created when the ice-rich earth constricted and broke at low temperatures, forming a dark-colored zone. It created polygonal patterns and fissures, which caught black material blasted over Mars by the wind and gave it a gloomy look.
Scalloped depressions of various forms and sizes, with depths of many tens of meters, may also be seen across the picture. These structures, according to ESA, are caused by ground ice melting or converting to gas, which weakens and collapses the surface.
About Mars Express
Since the spacecraft began science operations in 2004, the ESA noted that Mars Express had uncovered extensive evidence of water.
"Key discoveries include the presence of minerals that form only in the presence of water, the detection of water-ice deposits underground, and evidence to suggest volcanism on Mars may have persisted until recent times," ESA said on the mission webpage.
Many other notable features on Mars' surface have previously been captured by the Mars Express orbiter, Digital Trends reported. These include the famous Korolev crater, which is 51 miles wide and full of ice, and the Moreux crater, which does not have ice now but has dunes and other structures formed by ice activity in the past. Identifying ice deposits is crucial for making water available on Mars, which is essential for future crewed missions.
RELATED ARTICLE: New Images of Mars Released, NASA Links the Brain Terrain to Water-Ice Lying Beneath Planet's Surface
Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.