Part Twenty Six scientists hope that Hebes Chasma and its neighboring network of canyons could provide new insights into Mars' ancient geological upheaval. The Hebes Chasma is located at about 1 ° S / 284 ° E, and 300 km north of Valles. As its layers include volcanic materials but also wind-blow dust and lake sediments that were laid down over time.
One idea is that the material was blown or slid from the top of the mound and collected on the slopes below. Dark material is also seen around the base of the mesa, which either eroded away from the younger sediment layers located higher up in the mesa, or were deposited separately by wind or water. Esa's Mars Express has flown over this region of Mars on numerous occasions, but this new eight-image mosaic reveals Hebes Chasma in full and in greater detail than ever before. Imaging the landscape at three different wavelengths, the space agency has provides an insight into how the canyon will look from various angles. Ripped apart by tectonic forces, the origin of Hebes Chasma and neighbouring canyons is associated with the nearby . volcanic Tharsis Region, a huge region on Mars formed during its ancient volcanic history A horseshoe-shaped chunk has been taken out of one side of the mound (left in this image); the material has slumped down onto the floor of the valley below . A dark patch appears to pool like spilt ink across the debris. It is most likely loose material that has slid down the walls from an intermediate layer. The mosaic of Hebes Chasma is composed of eight single images taken with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express (left).
Scientists hope that Hebes Chasma and its neighbouring network of canyons could provide new insights into Mars' ancient geological upheaval. A colour-coded topography map (right) shows the relative heights and depths of features in and around the Hebes Chasma. White and red show the highest terrains, while blue and purple show the deepest. As the Tharsis bulge swelled with magma during the planet's first billion years, the surrounding crust was stretched, eventually ripping apart and collapsing into massive troughs. One of these was Hebes Chasma, and the complex fault patterns can be seen all around the deep depression and are especially evident in the main colour and 3D images. At the centre of Hebes Chasma is a flat-topped 'mesa'-an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides. No other canyon on Mars has a similar feature and its origin is not entirely clear. Its layers include volcanic materials but also wind-blow dust and lake sediments that were laid down over time. By imaging the landscape at three different wavelengths, the space agency has provides an insight into how the canyon will look from various angles. Ripped apart by tectonic forces, the origin of Hebes Chasma and neighbouring canyons is associated with the nearby volcanic Tharsis Region. Its a horseshoe-shaped chunk has been taken out of one side of the mesa where material has slumped down onto the valley floor below.
Other layers revealed in the sides of the mesa may also have been deposited by water. Data from both Mars Express and Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that some parts of Hebes Chasma are laced with minerals that can form only in the presence of water , suggesting that at some point in the Red Planet's history the canyon might have been filled with a lake.According to Esa, however, the chaotic debris that fills the canyon floor shows that enormous landslides also played a key role in shaping and widening this deep scar since its formation.The space team are using the medieval technology to ensure pictures beamed back from Mars accurately show the colours found on the Red Planet. Scientists have been struggling to see what the surface of Mars looks like because the high ultra violet radiation in the atmosphere causes colours to fade. How medieval stained-glass is creating the ultimate SPACE camera. Nanoparticles used in church windows will help scientists see Mars' true colours under extreme UV light. The 3D Panoramic Camera will be used in ESA's 2019 Mars rover mission. Nanoparticles will act as UV blockers to capture true colours on the planet. This was inspired by the use of nanoparticles in medieval stained-glass windows, which never fade in colour. British space scientists are using medieval stained-glass to build a 'state of the art' camera bound for Mars. A team of scientists from Aberystwyth University in West Wales have created the 3D Panoramic Camera Instrument (PanCam) and the medieval stained-glass it will use'I have colleagues at Aberystwyth who specialise in glass research and when they heard we needed stable coloured targets for the calibration target they said use stained-glass. 'The colour centres are formed as a nano-particle suspension within the glass and this acts as an efficient UV blocker.' This prevents chemical reactions from occurring that will change of the colours.'
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