By Ellie Zolfagharifard A journey through Mars’ impressive landscape has been made possible through a series of incredible images that reveal its surface in unprecedented detail. The images allow you to plummet into the breathtaking depths of its darkest canyons, float over its black dunes and revel in the beauty of the red planet’s spiralling whirlwinds. They were taken by Nasa’s observation satellite Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and provide a previously unseen vision of Mars, whose landscape has been taking shape for more than three billion years. Since 2006, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been charting the red planet's terrain. This image shows defrosting of the crests of 'Inca City'. This is the informal name given to a set of intersecting ridges that are located among the layered materials of the south polar region of Mars. Their origin has never been understood
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Images compiled by Paris-based Xavier Barral in his book ‘This is Mars’
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They were taken by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2006
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Each image maintains consistent point of view covering a 6km wide area
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This is one of the first sand dune fields ever recognised on @placeholder.
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The circular depressions, swirls and cliffs shown here are created by frozen CO2 on @placeholder evaporating into gas.
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These layers are composed of clay minerals formed by the transformation of liquid water, providing evidence of @placeholder's ancient, humid past
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The image shows one of the first sand dune fields ever recognised on @placeholder.
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year, researchers found that sand dunes on @placeholder, once thought to be
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@placeholder has vast glaciers hidden under aprons of rocky debris near mid and lower latitudes.