The Mars spacecraft takes new pictures of the largest volcano in the solar system
A spacecraft orbiting Mars has captured evidence of the red planet’s dramatic past.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express orbiter has captured new images of the largest volcano in our solar system, Olympus Mons, focusing on a “crumpled,” distressed region on the edge of the mountain called Lycus Sulci.
Olympus Mons – two and a half times taller than Mount Everest – is surrounded by “aureoles” of Martian rock and soil, providing clear evidence of ancient, colossal landslides. What could have been the trigger for such major events? Molten lava once poured into (and formed) the Arizona-sized volcano, which hasn’t erupted in about 25 million years. This lava, ESA explains, melted the Martian ice in the bedrock below and destabilized the outer rim of the volcano. Then large amounts of this rock broke off.
“This collapse took the form of huge rockfalls and landslides that slid down and spread well across the surrounding plains,” the space agency said.
NASA spacecraft discovers stunning ice streams on Mars
In the first image below you can see the wavy portion of the outskirts of Olympus Mons captured by the Mars Express Orbiter.
In this satellite image, the inner white box shows the newly viewed areas of the Lycus Sulci feature.
Photo Credit: NASA/MGS/MOLA Science Team
The second image shows an “oblique perspective view of Lycus Sulci,” a view generated by the newly mapped areas combined with the agency’s digital terrain model, creating a high-resolution image of this unique Martian feature.
The final image shows two different landslides captured by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, often orbiting over 185 miles above the planet.
The Tormented Wasteland of Lycus Sulci.
Photo credits: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The two giant landslide deposits captured by the Mars Express orbiter.
Photo credits: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Such massive landslides can be hundreds of meters or yards thick. “However, for this giant, which has experienced several colossal and overlapping collapses, they can be as long as two kilometers [over 1 mile] thick,” the space agency noted.
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Today, Mars is a much quieter desert. There is no active lava flowing at the surface, but perhaps a few hundred thousand years ago or less lava seeped near the surface. In addition, Mars is still hit by relatively strong earthquakes from time to time: the upsurge of Martian magma could have loaded the ground in places and triggered earthquakes.
Long ago, when water also flowed across the surface of Mars, it was possible that the planet harbored primitive microbial life, the kind that NASA’s car-sized rovers are searching for in the arid Martian desert.