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Flight around Ares Vallis – Special PR #2 2024
This film was created using the Mars Express High-Resolution Stereo Camera Mars Chart (HMC30) data, an image mosaic made from single orbit observations of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The mosaic image is combined with topography information from the digital terrain model (DTM) to generate a three-dimensional landscape.
Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin & NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) » Copyright Notice
Image Processing
The flight around Ares Vallis covers a total area of approximately 890 000 km2, which is more than twice the size of Germany. The view is centered at 12°N and 330°E. For every second of the movie 50 separate frames are rendered following a pre-defined camera path in the scene. The vertical exaggeration used for the animation is 3-fold. Atmospheric effects, i.e. clouds and haze have been added to conceal the limits of the terrain model. The haze starts building up at 300 km distance. The HRSC camera on Mars Express is operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The systematic processing of the camera data took place at the DLR Institute for Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof. The working group of Planetary Science and Remote Sensing at Freie Universität Berlin used the data to create the film shown here.
Tracing the Paths of Past Water Flows
This film takes us along one of the largest outflow channels on Mars located in the Oxia Palus quadrangle. Ares Vallis is an extensive valley carved by large amounts of water that once traversed the channel. The Ares Vallis outflow channel stretches for more than 1700 km2 and ends in the lowlands of Chryse Planitia. The flight starts with overflying NASA’s Pathfinder landing site, where the rover landed on July, 4th 1997 and explored the area for 12 weeks.
Continuing to the south we pass over two large craters named Masurky and Sagan. The partially eroded crater rim reveals the immense power of past water flows emerging from Tiu Vallis next to Ares Vallis. The erosion by water can be observed in other geological features such as streamlined islands and terrace-like river banks on the valley walls.
Facing north, the flight continues to a large region of chaotic terrain named Hyaspis Chaos on Mars. This area is characterized by a maze out of mesas, buttes and hills in various scales. Chaotic terrain is often observed in the source regions of ancient outflow valleys which provide insight into the formation of the chaotic terrains. The flight continues in northern direction. The view still shows the chaotic terrain and the large crater Galilaei north of Hydaspis Chaos. Galilaei also exhibits a highly degraded rim. Flying further north, streamlined islands can be observed again, which indicate the former direction of water flow throughout the Hesperian period.
The flight then takes the viewer towards the planned landing site ellipse for ESA’s ExoMars mission Rosalind Franklin rover. The primary goal of the mission is to search for signs of past or present life on Mars. The “Flight around Ares Vallis” ends with a bird’s-eye view of the complete mosaic used for the production of this animation. This view makes clear what a fascinating region Ares Vallis and its neighborhood is.
High Resolution Stereo Camera
The High Resolution Stereo Camera was developed at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and built in collaboration with partners in industry (EADS Astrium, Lewicki Microelectronic GmbH and Jena-Optronik GmbH). The science team, which is headed by Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. Daniela Tirsch, consists of 52 co-investigators from 34 institutions and 11 countries. The camera is operated by the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof.
HRSC Dataset
The HMC30 products include multi-orbit DTMs and orthorectified image mosaics derived from HRSC images, as well as follow-up products such as pan-sharpened color mosaics. HMC30 data products are organized according to a modified version of the USGS MC-30 tiling scheme. All HMC30 products are based on bundle-block adjustment of the stereo images, are registered to the global MOLA reference. This animation was created using data from the MC-11W quadrangle. To explore the HMC30 products, visit the mapserver using the button on the right.
