Mesmerizing Video from ESA ‘Flies’ You Over Mars

Metaverse Planet October 10, 2025Last Updated: November 3, 2025

1 minute read

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a new video, created with data from the Mars Express spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars for over two decades. This virtual flight allows us to see a view of the Red Planet’s surface in unprecedented detail. Get ready to embark on a journey across the Red Planet you’ve never seen before.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is taking viewers on a breathtaking animated flight over a gigantic, labyrinth-like canyon on the Martian surface, created using data from its Mars Express spacecraft.

This stunning virtual tour provides fascinating details about how water shaped the geology of the Red Planet billions of years ago.

ESA officials state that the animation, based on images obtained from Mars Express’s High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), takes viewers on a “mesmerizing flight over curving channels carved by water, islands that have resisted erosion, and a maze of hilly terrain.”

Central to this virtual journey is a massive outflow channel called Shalbatana Vallis, which stretches for a full 1,300 kilometers (about 808 miles). This channel descends from the high plateau region of Xanthe Terra towards the flatter plains of Chryse Planitia.

Scientists believe that colossal amounts of water flowed through this channel billions of years ago, creating the wide and deeply carved valley structures we see in the video today. This erosion was likely the result of catastrophic flood events caused by the melting of underground ice deposits during periods of volcanic activity.

The tour concludes with a view of a magnificent impact crater, approximately 100 kilometers wide, which was formed by a space rock colliding with the Martian surface.

This video truly showcases the power of the Mars Express mission. Are you curious about how the HRSC camera creates these detailed 3D views?