Another look at the vastness of Valles Marineris on Mars
Click for interactive map.
This week I have returned several times to the giant Valles Marineris canyon on Mars in an attempt to capture its incomprehensible and glorious scale. Without question this canyon is going to become one of the prime tourist spots when humans begin living and working throughout the solar system. Fortunately, its vast size will mean that it will take many many centuries before it even becomes close to crowded there.
Today I try a different approach, using the global mosaic created by scientists at Caltech from the context camera images taken by Mar Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). That mosaic processes the images to allow one to see the surface from an oblique angle. The picture to the right covers one small part of the eastern end of Valles Marineris (the white rectangle in the inset), but though small the scale once again is gigantic.
The three white dots are our reference points, one on the north rim, one on the south, and one in the middle on the peak of that central mountain chain. Beginning from the south, the distance from the rim to the middle mountain peak is 43 miles, with the elevation dropping almost 13,000 feet to the floor of the south canyon, than rising almost 10,000 feet to the middle peak. The northern canyon is smaller. From the peak to the north rim is 27 miles, dropping about 9,300 feet and then rising about 8,500 feet to the north rim.
From rim to rim the distance is about 70 miles. Since the middle mountain chain about 18 miles wide, it fills only about 25% of the entire canyon.
In every case, the Grand Canyon would be merely be a small side canyon here. The depths are twice as deep, and the distances are many times larger. In width alone at this point Valles Marineris is seven times wider than the widest part of the Grand Canyon, and this is by far not Valles Marineris’s widest point.
Click for original image.
The picture to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on March 26, 2007 by MRO’s high resolution camera, looking down at that central peak. This is a classic butte, like those you see scattered throughout the Grand Canyon when you stand on its south rim. The difference is that this butte is more than twice as high, and is part of a mountain chain of comparable buttes 132 miles long. And yet, its peaks are shorter than the canyon’s main rims, and it is lost in the depths of Valles Marineris.
As always, the layers and gullies pose the most interesting geological questions. The layers suggest a long history of many cycles and events, each placing down another layer. The gullies suggest erosion processes that on Earth we would assume were caused by rain and flowing water. On Mars, we really still do not know the cause.
One last note: At least one science team is presently doing preliminary design work on a possible helicopter to this part of Valles Marineris, exploring the south canyon along its south wall. Now, won’t that be a journey of the ages?
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for interactive map.
This week I have returned several times to the giant Valles Marineris canyon on Mars in an attempt to capture its incomprehensible and glorious scale. Without question this canyon is going to become one of the prime tourist spots when humans begin living and working throughout the solar system. Fortunately, its vast size will mean that it will take many many centuries before it even becomes close to crowded there.
Today I try a different approach, using the global mosaic created by scientists at Caltech from the context camera images taken by Mar Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). That mosaic processes the images to allow one to see the surface from an oblique angle. The picture to the right covers one small part of the eastern end of Valles Marineris (the white rectangle in the inset), but though small the scale once again is gigantic.
The three white dots are our reference points, one on the north rim, one on the south, and one in the middle on the peak of that central mountain chain. Beginning from the south, the distance from the rim to the middle mountain peak is 43 miles, with the elevation dropping almost 13,000 feet to the floor of the south canyon, than rising almost 10,000 feet to the middle peak. The northern canyon is smaller. From the peak to the north rim is 27 miles, dropping about 9,300 feet and then rising about 8,500 feet to the north rim.
From rim to rim the distance is about 70 miles. Since the middle mountain chain about 18 miles wide, it fills only about 25% of the entire canyon.
In every case, the Grand Canyon would be merely be a small side canyon here. The depths are twice as deep, and the distances are many times larger. In width alone at this point Valles Marineris is seven times wider than the widest part of the Grand Canyon, and this is by far not Valles Marineris’s widest point.
Click for original image.
The picture to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on March 26, 2007 by MRO’s high resolution camera, looking down at that central peak. This is a classic butte, like those you see scattered throughout the Grand Canyon when you stand on its south rim. The difference is that this butte is more than twice as high, and is part of a mountain chain of comparable buttes 132 miles long. And yet, its peaks are shorter than the canyon’s main rims, and it is lost in the depths of Valles Marineris.
As always, the layers and gullies pose the most interesting geological questions. The layers suggest a long history of many cycles and events, each placing down another layer. The gullies suggest erosion processes that on Earth we would assume were caused by rain and flowing water. On Mars, we really still do not know the cause.
One last note: At least one science team is presently doing preliminary design work on a possible helicopter to this part of Valles Marineris, exploring the south canyon along its south wall. Now, won’t that be a journey of the ages?
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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