Flying over
the frigid northern reaches of Mars, the orbiting Mars Express satellite
captured images of the 50-mile wide Korolev crater filled with ice.
Korolev is
an especially alluring sight, not just because it's a well-preserved impact
crater but because it's loaded with ice over a mile deep year round.
Launched 15
years ago by the European Space Agency (ESA), Mars Express often focuses on
glaciers and ice in the Martian polar regions.
The Korolev
crater's ice is resistant to melting during the warmer summer seasons because
the massive plain of ice creates a "cold trap," ESA explains. When
air travels above the crater, it cools and sinks over the ice, building a sort
of cool "shield" over the ice.
So even as
the seasons change, Korolev remains brimming with ice. Most Martian craters,
even in cooler regions, don't remain full year-round.
As Mars
Express zips over the desert planet, it takes photos of different strips of
land, and then transmits the pictures back to Earth.
ESA
scientists then combine the images together to build a coherent picture of different
Martian landforms, dried-up lakes, and masses of frozen water.
These
Korolev images above are composites of five different photos, each taken during
a separate orbit across Mars.
Korolev is
named for a giant in space history: rocket scientist Sergei Korolev.
Korolev
headed the Soviet space program and famously beat the Americans into space. The
Soviets, under Korolev's leadership, sent both the first human and satellite
into space.
"He’s a
key figure in space history — though he died much too early," space
historian Robert Pearlman said.
Mars Express
continues to actively scour the red Martian terrain and transmit truly
brilliant extraterrestrial images back to Earth.
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