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Ice on Mars
Frozen Sea on Mars
The images in this gallery were released at the First Mars Express Science Conference, in February. The images show signs of volcanic cones and potentially recent activity, leading researchers to ponder whether some of Mars’ volcanoes were still active today. This image, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows what appears to be a dust-covered frozen sea near the Martian equator. It shows a flat plain, part of the Elysium Planitia that is covered with irregular blocky shapes. They look just like the rafts of fragmented sea ice that lie off the coast of Antarctica on Earth. This scene, taken during orbit 32, is a few tens of kilometers across, and is centered on latitude 5º North and longitude 150º East. The water that formed the sea appears to have originated beneath the surface of Mars, and to have come out through a series of fractures known as the Cerberus Fossae, from where it flowed in a catastrophic flood. Click to enlarge.
Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
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