Nili Fossae region of Mars is comprised of "parallel trenches hundreds of metres deep and several hundred kilometres long," according to ESA. Mar Express orbiter data has been used to create this flyover.
Credit: Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin & NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
00:00Welcome aboard ESA's Mars Express. Today we're flying over Nilifosse, an enticing patch of Mars that is full of clues about the red planet's eventful past.
00:14This crater coming up on our left is Hargrave's impact crater.
00:19Like the impact craters we find on Earth, Hargraves was created when a space rock smashed into Mars' surface, flinging out ancient material over the surrounding land.
00:31Right now, we're flying over the Nilifosse trenches. Like scratches from a giant cat, these scars are hundreds of metres deep and hundreds of kilometres long.
00:43The trenches were created when Mars was hit by yet another space rock 4 billion years ago, creating one of Mars' biggest craters, located just off screen to our right.
00:56As the surface settled following the impact, some land cracked and fell away, forming the trenches of Nilifosse.
01:04One of the reasons scientists have focused on Nilifosse in recent years is that it is packed with many different minerals.
01:12These minerals are made in the presence of water, indicating that this region was not always the dry and dusty landscape that we see below us now.
01:22Because of what it could tell us about Mars' ancient and water-rich past, Nilifosse was considered as a possible landing site for NASA's Curiosity rover,
01:33before the mission was ultimately sent to Gale Crater in 2012.
01:38Another NASA rover, Perseverance, later landed in the nearby Jezero Crater.
01:48Thank you for joining us on a tour of Nilifosse. See you next time on board Mars Express.
