Mars Express Images Fractured Crater

The European Space Agency (ESA) released a photograph today of a fractured crater on the surface of Mars. This interesting image was actually taken in January with the High Resolution Stereo Camera aboard the Mars Express orbiter during it's 61st orbit. The crater is about 27.5 kilometres in diameter by about 800 meters deep and lies near Valles Marineris. Scientists are not yet sure how these fractures formed, but on Earth, similar features are often the result of materials contracting, such as cooling lava or drying clay.

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