European Space Agency (ESA) shares a video that shows in detail what the so-called ‘Labyrinth of Night’ looks like on Mars. This place is special for scientists in that, in addition to dazzling with incredible beauty, years ago it could have been the definitive proof of the existence of life and water on the red planet. The structure represented by the terrain also known as Noctis Labyrinthus is similar to that of the Grand Canyon and has taken the expert community by complete surprise. Thanks to the HRSC camera located on the Mars Express spacecrafthas been recreated using a virtual air plane, what is this complicated area that could actually be the key to everything.
🛰🔴 Fly through the Martian labyrinth of the night with us and the Mars Express.
Between the vast Martian Grand Canyon and the tallest volcanoes in the Solar System lies Noctis Labyrinthus, a vast system of deep and steep valleys that stretches for roughly 1,190 km. pic.twitter.com/SdS4gu174E
ESA (@esa) October 11, 2023
The “labyrinth of the night” could have been formed by water: its canyons and valleys are up to 30 kilometers wide and six kilometers deep
“It is located between the colossal Martian ‘Gran Can’ and It is home to the tallest volcanoes in the solar system Labyrinth of the nightan extensive system of deep, steep valleys which It stretches for approximately 1190 km, which is the length of Italy here on Earth”, comments ESA from its official publication on Twitter (X). The European Space Agency has been studying Mars and everything related to this field since 2003 thanks to the launch of the Mars Express spacecraft, which was deployed in June of that year. and arrived in the orbit of our neighboring planet in December. Between approximately 2006 and 2015, an intensive and in-depth study was carried out on the labyrinth in question: “It provided the most complete map of the chemical composition of the atmosphere, studying Phobos, the innermost moon of Mars,” the ESA added.
“In unprecedented detail and tracing the history of water around the world, showing that Mars once hosted environmental conditions that may have been suitable for life“. In the official description presented by the ESA in its report, the formation of the Labyrinth is described as follows: “The formation of these formations is due to intense volcanism in the nearby region of Tharsis; “This volcanism caused large areas of the Martian crust to tilt upwards and stretch and become tectonic stresses, causing it to thin, fail and sink.”
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“It harbors environmental conditions that might have been suitable for life.”
The Mars Express mission was and is a success for ESA. It is undoubtedly a key piece to continue to explore the possibility that life may have existed on Mars in the past, which would certainly put a heavy blow on the table in the scientific field.
