Hephaestus Fossae ortho-image
Hephaestus Fossae ortho-image
This image of Hephaestus Fossae was obtained on 28 December 2007 by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) on board the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The region is dotted with craters and channel systems and lies at about 21°N and 126°E on the Red Planet. Named after the Greek god of fire, Hephaestus Fossae extends for more than 600 kilometres on the western flank of Elysium Mons in the Utopia Planitia region.
This ortho-image was rectified using elevation data derived from a high-resolution Digital Terrain Model, or DTM (obtained from HRSC data), so that distortions introduced during imaging are corrected. Such an image can be used to derive maps. Elevation data from the DTM has been colour-coded and overlayed on the ortho-image so that elevation data and the image itself are displayed in a single scene. The scale is in metres.
