Topographical map of the eastern part of Noctis Labyrinthus
Topographical map of the eastern part of Noctis Labyrinthus
The DLR High Resolution Stereo Camera on board Mars Express uses its nine sensors to record the surface of Mars from different angles. Teams of scientists at the DLR Institute of Planetary Research and the Freie Universität Berlin compute digital terrain models from data acquired by two stereo channels directed obliquely forwards and backwards onto the surface and the nadir channel directed vertically onto Mars, which assign height information to each pixel. The colour scale at the top right of the image shows the altitude values in relation to an areoid, an imaginary surface on Mars with constant gravitational attraction. This makes it easy to visualise the spectacular dimensions of this region. The tectonic fractures have created valleys 4000 to 7000 metres deep in the southern martian highlands. There is no comparable geological structure on Earth.
