This is a simulated view of Mars from a vantage point 2500 km above the colossal Valles Marineris canyon system, with enhanced colour and contrast (at this relatively low altitude, the planet’s polar caps are not visible). However, to create this mosaic, the HRSC team instead colour-referenced each constituent image using a colour model derived from high altitude imagery, allowing them to preserve colour variations and reveal a far richer colour view of Mars than has been seen before. Reliably determining accurate surface colours from orbit is difficult due to the variable amounts of dust in Mars’s atmosphere, leading to many mosaic images taking on a patchwork-like appearance suppressing this effect in image processing usually reduces variations in colour between different parts of Mars. The mosaic reveals the planet’s surface colour and composition in spectacular detail. To mark 20 years of ESA’s Mars Express, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) team has produced a new global colour mosaic: Mars as never seen before.

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