Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

ESA’s Mars Express in orbit around the Red Planet.
Credit: ESA/AOES Medialab

A simulated overflight of the Martian North Pole reveals its permanent ice cap and Chasma Boreale. The images used to produce the video were acquired 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 (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft.

The video shows the permanent ice cap at the Martian North Pole. It is also referred to as the summer ice cap and consists mainly of water ice.

Gigantic spiral

Mars’ north polar cap looks like a gigantic spiral of ice and snow. Dark troughs are interspersed with ice-clad hills. This simulated overflight of the North Pole reveals its permanent ice cap and large Chasma Boreale trough.

Boreale is carved into the polar cap. Its formation is still unclear.

During the six month Martian winter, an additional layer of carbon dioxide forms over the permanent water ice cap.

Mars Express image showing frost build-up near Mars north pole.
Credit: ESA/D. O’Donnell – CC BY-SA IGO

Dark troughs, in which dust and deposits carried by the wind have accumulated, alternate with white, ice-clad hills. Chasma Boreale is a particularly striking trough that can be seen halfway through the film.

Origin: unclear

The up to 100-kilometer wide and 500-kilometer long valley is carved into the north polar cap to a depth of two kilometers. Dark deposits are visible at the bottom of Chasma Boreale. These are mostly dunes of black sand that have been carried into the trough by the wind.

The origin of Chasma Boreale is still unclear: the structure could have been formed by non-uniform accumulation of ice and dust, melting processes or wind erosion.

To view this video, go to:

http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/Portaldata/1/Resources/videos/2017/809-NorthPolarCap-movie_600.mp4