Crater Hale on Mars

This image, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA?s Mars Express spacecraft, shows Crater Hale in the Argyre basin of the southern hemisphere of Mars.

The image shows an area close to the northern rim of the Argyre basin, located at latitude 36? South and longitude 324? East, and was taken with a ground resolution of about 40 metres per pixel during Mars Express orbit 533 in June 2004.

Slight periodic colour and brightness variations in parts of the image indicate atmospheric waves in clouds.

Crater Hale, with its terraced walls, central peak and a part of the inner ring is visible in the upper (eastern) part of the image. The region has been eroded heavily by deposits caused by this impact, and subsequent processes.

On the southern rim of Hale, parts of the crater wall have moved downslope towards the crater?s centre. At the bottom (western) part of the picture, the surface shows a network of fluvial channels which may have been caused by running water.

The HRSC experiment on ESA?s Mars Express mission is led by the Principal Investigator Prof. Dr Gerhard Neukum, of the Freie Universitaet Berlin, who also designed the camera. The science team for the experiment consists of 45 Co-Investigators from 32 institutions and 10 nations.

The camera was developed at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and built in co-operation with industrial partners EADS Astrium, Lewicki Microelectronic GmbH and Jena-Optronik GmbH.

The HRSC is operated by the DLR Institute of Planetary Research, through ESA?s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

Image resolution has been decreased for use on the internet. The colour image was processed using the HRSC nadir (vertical view) and three colour channels.

Original Source: ESA News Release