Oblique perspective view of a tectonic rift in Tempe Terra, looking from northeast to southwest
Oblique perspective view of a tectonic rift in Tempe Terra, looking from northeast to southwest
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. An impact crater nearly twelve kilometres across is intersected by a tectonic rift almost a kilometre wide, which is the result of tensile stress in the Martian crust. The interior of the crater has been filled in with a material the surface structure of which indicates that it had plastic properties. The transition zone from the Martian highlands to the northern lowlands can be seen in the right third of the image and at front left.
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.