Perspective view from southwest to northeast of the Oraibi crater
Perspective view from southwest to northeast of the Oraibi crater
Realistic perspective views of the Martian surface can be generated from data acquired by the stereo and colour channels of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, which are oriented at an angle with respect to the planet’s surface. This image shows an oblique perspective view from southwest to northeast of the 32-kilometre crater Oraibi in the mouth of the Ares Vallis outflow channel. Water that once flowed through this valley has eroded a portion of the crater rim. The striking, terrace-like formations on the western slope were ‘milled’ from the layers of the raised land area by water flowing with considerable force. On the right of the image, a cluster of many small craters can be seen, which could be the result of the impact of the debris resulting from an asteroid as it broke up in the atmosphere. An alternative explanation is that they are secondary craters, formed when pieces of rock ejected by an asteroid impact fell back to the surface.
Copyright note:
As a joint undertaking by DLR, ESA and FU Berlin, the Mars Express HRSC images are published under a Creative Commons licence since December 2014: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. This licence will also apply to all HRSC images released to date.
