Perspective view of the southern part of Phlegra Montes from the northeast
Perspective view of the southern part of Phlegra Montes from the northeast
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.
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.
This image shows an impact crater in the foreground, which has been filled with material with plastic properties – presumably via the gap in the crater rim on the left hand side. This can be seen in the flow patterns that have formed in the interior of the crater, in part parallel to the crater rim. These can also be seen on the surface of the area surrounding the crater. Flow patterns can also be seen in the valley-shaped depression in the centre of the image. These might have arisen from 'rock glaciers' – bodies of ice interspersed with boulders and rocky debris that also occur on Earth, primarily in regions of permafrost on high mountain ranges or at polar latitudes.