Nadir channel image of Tempe Terra showing areas of interest
Nadir channel image of Tempe Terra showing areas of interest
The nadir channel, which points vertically down towards the planet’s surface, provides the highest image resolution in the HRSC camera system. During orbit 9622, ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft was about 425 kilometres above the surface, resulting in an image resolution of 18 metres per pixel. In the framed areas, conspicuous phenomena characteristic of the region are visible: a tectonic rift about a kilometre wide, caused by extension of the crust (box 1), which runs through the ejecta of an impact crater approximately 12 kilometres across (box 2). Dendritic valleys indicate that the landscape may have been shaped by flowing water (box 3). Mesas reveal the original terrain level of the southern highlands of Mars (box 4). Older large impact craters (box 5) have been almost completely covered with sediment deposited by flowing water or filled with impact ejecta.
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.