Decades of Wind Just Ripped Through Mars, and Left This Behind
Indian Defence Review • • science
Key Points:
- The European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission has captured detailed images of wind-sculpted yardangs near the equator of Mars, specifically in the northern Eumenides Dorsum mountains, showcasing the planet’s persistent wind erosion over millions of years.
- These yardangs, elongated ridges carved by consistent southeast winds, reveal the geological history of Mars’s atmosphere and are formed by wind eroding softer sedimentary rock, leaving behind harder, resistant formations.
- The newly imaged region uniquely displays the convergence of three geological processes—wind erosion, volcanic lava flows, and impact cratering—providing valuable insights into the timeline and interaction of these forces on Mars’s surface.
- Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera, operational since
