Take a trip over Mawrth Vallis: Stunning simulated flyover of Martian surface reveals the vast valley scientists say is the 'best bet' for signs of alien life

600 km-long, 2 km-deep Mawrth Vallis once had ‘huge amounts’ of water passing through the area[CN]

马沃斯峡谷长600千米，深2000米，曾经有大量的水从该地区流过。

Scientists say the massive valley may have been habitable up to 3.6 billion years ago[CN]

科学家们称这个大峡谷在3.6亿年前曾有生命居住过。

The site is one of four candidates  eyed for the ExoMars 2020 mission which will land to look for signs of life
[CN]

这个地点也是2020年大火星计划之寻找生命迹象的四大候选地区之一。

Based on images taken by ESA’s Mars Express, it shows a flight over Mawrth Vallis, a 600 km-long, 2 km-deep outflow channel at the boundary of the southern highlands and the northern lowlands of Mars.[CN]

根据欧洲航天局火星快车号拍的照片，飞行器飞越马沃斯大峡谷，在火星南方高地和北方低地间发现了长600千米，深2000米的大峡谷。

The animation is based on a colour mosaic and digital terrain model derived from data collected by the high-resolution stereo camera on Mars Express and released earlier this year[CN]

这次的画像来自于多彩马赛克以及数字地面模型。今年早些时候欧洲发射火星快车号，图片资料正是高分辨率立体照相机拍摄。

Mawrth Vallis is roughly 373 miles (600 km) long and more than a mile deep. Its name comes from the Welsh words for Mars, and the Latin word for valley. Pictured,  images from ESA Mars Express are combined with MOLA topography data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor[CN]

马沃尔大峡谷约373英尺（600千米）长，有一英里之深。名字来自于威尔士语中的“火星”以及希腊文的“峡谷”。照片是欧航局的快车号和美航局的全球探测号地形测量技术合作而得出的数据。

The European Space Agency has revealed a new video of a remarkable valley on the red planet that experts agree could be the 'best bet' for finding alien life.[CN]

欧航局透露了一个新视频，红色星球上有个非凡的大峡谷，专家们认为这是最有可能找到外星人的地头。

Based on images taken by ESA’s Mars Express, it shows a flight over Mawrth Vallis, a 600 km-long, 2 km-deep outflow channel at the boundary of the southern highlands and the northern lowlands of Mars.[CN]

根据欧洲航天局火星快车号拍的照片，飞行器飞越马沃斯大峡谷，在火星南方高地和北方低地间发现了长600千米，深2000米的大峡谷。

It is one of the largest valleys on Mars, and scientists say it may have been habitable up to 3.6 billion years ago.
[CN]

这是火星上最大的峡谷，科学家们称这个大峡谷在3.6亿年前曾有生命居住过。

The movie begins at the mouth of the channel in Chryse Planitia, and heads towards the apparent source region in the Arabia Terra highlands.

The 4 billion year-old plateau is characterised by many impact craters, indicative of its great age.

Zooming in, patches of light and dark deposits are revealed. 

The light-toned layered sediments are among the largest outcrops of clay minerals – phyllosilicates – on Mars. 

Their presence indicates the presence of liquid water in the past.

The variety of water-bearing minerals and the possibility that they might contain a record of an ancient, habitable environment on Mars led scientists to propose Mawrth Vallis as a candidate landing site for the ExoMars 2020 mission.

The animation is based on a colour mosaic and digital terrain model derived from data collected by the high-resolution stereo camera on Mars Express and released earlier this year.

Mawrth Vallis is roughly 373 miles (600 km) long and more than a mile deep.

Its name comes from the Welsh word for Mars - Mawrth, and the Latin word for valley.

And, long ago, ‘huge amounts’ of water passed through the area, beginning at a higher elevation region and spilling into the northern plains.

These features can be seen at the lower right and top left of the image, respectively.

The valley sits on the border between the southern highlands and the northern lowlands, according to the Esa, and is home to phyllosilicates.

These light-toned structures are weathered clay minerals which indicate the past presence of liquid water.

According to the space agency, the remains of volcanic ash in the form of a dark cap rock may protect traces of ancient microbes in the clay.

To create this image, the researchers combined nine photos taken by the Express spacecraft’s high-resolution camera.

The craft has been orbiting the red planet since 2003, and Mawrth Vallis has been an area of great intrigue for years.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Mars may have been covered in networks of lakes and streams for roughly a billion years longer than previously thought – with implications for its potential to host life during that time as well.

Nasa researchers made the discovery by dating 22 impact craters on the planet.

'We discovered valleys that carried water into lake basins,' said Sharon Wilson from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

'Several lake basins filled and overflowed, indicating there was a considerable amount of water on the landscape during this time.'

Wilson and colleagues found evidence of these features in Mars' northern Arabia Terra region, by studying images from cameras on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

They also used data from Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor and the European Space Agency's Mars Express.

'One of the lakes in this region was comparable in volume to Lake Tahoe,' Ms Wilson said, referring to a California-Nevada lake that holds about 45 cubic miles (188 cubic km) of water.

'This particular Martian lake was fed by an inlet valley on its southern edge and overflowed along its northern margin, carrying water downstream into a very large, water-filled basin we nicknamed "Heart Lake".'

The chain of lakes and valleys in the Heart Lake valley system extend for about 90 miles (about 150 km).

Heart Lake held about 670 cubic miles of water (2,790 cubic km), more than in Lake Ontario of North America's Great Lakes.