An image taken by the CaSSIS camera above ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), a satellite managed in partnership between the European and Russian space agencies (ESA and Roscosmos), has captured signals of geological movement on Mars.
There’s more to this image than meets the eye: nestled in the detail of the cliff face that cuts across the landscape, several large boulders fall from the cliff’s edge, leaving tiny dimples in the material as they fall down the slope.
Image shows rock formations associated with tectonic faults
According to the ESA, the image shows a wedge through the labyrinth system of the rinthus . region Last night The aptly named Laby. The cliff-like feature that runs through the center of the image is part of the system horst ditch (landscape forms associated with tectonic faults) – consists of mountains and highlands ( horst ) on both sides of the concave valley ( graben ) created as a result of tectonic processes that split the planet’s surface.
The entire network of plateaus and ditches that form Night’s Labyrinth stretches for about 1,200 km, with individual cliffs reaching 5 km above the surface.
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Elsewhere in the picture, and especially on the right side, there are linear ripples that have been formed by the wind. Several small collision craters also mark the scene.
Picture taken in the east Night’s Labyrinth at 265.8 ° BT/8.70 ° LS at Lake of Phoenix Quadrangle, near the intersection with Lus Chasma de Valles Marineris – the “great canyon” of Mars.
TGO satellite will help future missions on Mars
The TGO satellite arrived on Mars in 2016 and began its full science mission in 2018. As ESA points out, “the spacecraft not only returned spectacular images, it provided the best inventory of the planet’s atmospheric gases, and mapped its surface. to identify water-rich sites”.
Also according to ESA, TGO will also provide data relay services for the second ExoMars mission, consisting of the Kazachok platform and the rover Rosalind Franklin, which will arrive on Mars in 2023.
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The post “Rolling Rocks” on Mars: Satellite Captures Images of Rocks Falling From Rocks first appeared on Olhar Digital.
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