Simotron

Incredible photo here from the Mars Express. These canyons are HUGE and if i get time i want to do one of my scale-visualisation overlays on this – maybe i’ll stick on the Eiffel Tower, Empire State and the Burj Dubai (or whatever it’s now called) to show just how ginormous this place is.

Text below is from here:

These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show the central part of the 4000-kilometre long Valles Marineris canyon on Mars.

The HRSC obtained these images during orbits 334 and 360 with a resolution of approximately 21 metres per pixel for the earlier orbit and 30 metres per pixel for the latter.

The scenes show an area of approximately 300 by 600 kilometres and are taken from an image mosaic that was created from the two orbit sequences. The image above is located between 3º to 13º South, and 284º to 289º East.

Valles Marineris was named after the US Mariner 9 probe, the first spacecraft to image this enormous feature in 1971. Here, the huge canyon which runs east to west is at its widest in the north-south direction.