Stunning Mars image highlights one of Red Planet's oldest cratered regions

ESA has released newly processed Mars Express images of Arabia Terra, one of the oldest and most heavily cratered regions on Mars. The views come from the orbiter's 26,233rd pass on Oct. 12, 2024, but were only recently turned into the detailed color and topographic products now being shared. Dominating the scene is Trouvelot Crater, an impact basin about 81 miles (130 kilometers) wide, alongside an even older neighboring basin whose rim has been almost erased by time.

The new release turns an older Mars Express pass into a readable map of impacts, volcanism, wind, and possible water-altered terrain in one frame.

It is also a useful reminder of how much science still comes out of older data when it is reprocessed well. Mars Express has been at Mars since 2003, and this release shows that even familiar terrain can yield sharper context when archived observations are revisited with better imaging products and geologic interpretation.