Fly across Mars’s ‘labyrinth of night’ with Mars Express

Escape the woes of Planet Earth and take a 3 minute flight over the Noctis Labyrinthus on Planet Mars , the ‘labyrinth of night’ is situated between the Martian wonders of Valles Marineris and the Tharsis region home of the tallest volcanoes in the Solar System , Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons.

This video visualises a flight over the eastern part of Noctis Labyrinthus as seen by Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). It presents a perspective view down and across this fascinating landscape, showing distinctive ‘graben’ – parts of the crust that have subsided in relation to their surroundings. The intense volcanism in the nearby Tharsis region is to blame for the formation of these features; this volcanism caused large areas of martian crust to arch upwards and become stretched and tectonically stressed, leading to it thinning out, faulting and subsiding.

The highest plateaus seen here represent the original surface level before chunks of surface fell away. The intersecting canyons and valleys are up to 30 km wide and six km deep. In many places, gigantic landslides can be seen covering the valley slopes and floors, while other valley slopes show large dune fields created by sands blown both down and upslope by martian winds.

The Captain and crew of Mars Express hope you enjoyed your flight.

Thanks Captain and crew of Mars Express from an armchair space tourist.