In particular, a spectacular view of the “night labyrinth” Noctis Labyrinthus, which stretches through the canyon for almost 1000 kilometers, is shown.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to fly above the surface of Mars? But not the one we usually see when spacecraft and probes fly by, but a flight like that of an airplane above the Earth?
The European Space Agency has published a video that can depict just such a flight above the surface of Mars. The video shows the vast expanse of the Martian valley and the Valles Marineris canyon, which would be similar to the Grand Canyon on Earth.
The unique system of steep valleys is surrounded by the highest volcanoes in the Solar System, which scientists believe formed the vast canyons, causing the planet’s crust to stretch upwards and create cracks billions of years ago. Just to try to explain how big an area it is. Some of the canyon valleys are more than 45 kilometers wide and more than 5 kilometers deep. For comparison, the Grand Canyon (that is, the Big Canyon in the USA) has a total diameter of 45 kilometers and is no deeper than 2 kilometers.
As ESA points out, the footage was created using detailed images of the region taken by ESA’s Mars Express orbiter and combined with existing topographic data, all collected over the years to create a video that gives a 3D impression of the Martian surface.
Source: European Space Agency