Chryse Planitia

Chryse Planitia is a vast plain on the planet Mars. The name is derived from ancient Greek and means something like " Golden level."

The center of the area, which has a diameter of 1,600 km and is up to 2.5 km deep, is located at 27 ° north latitude and 37 ° west longitude. The area has an area of ​​about 500,000 km2.

Chryse Planitia is a huge valley that lies 2-4 km below the topographic zero line of the planet. It is probably caused by the impact of a larger meteorite. The largest outflow valleys of Mars, Kasei Vallis, Ares Vallis, Tiu Vallis and Vallis Simud open into this sink. Before about 3 billion years here flowed obviously huge water masses. The entrained stones and sands were deposited as sediments in Chryse Planitia.

As the region is geologically very interesting, landed here two space probes:

• On July 20, 1976 sat on the probe Viking 1 and sent first pictures of the Martian surface.
• At the transition from Ares Vallis Chryse Planitia to landed on 4 December 1996, the spacecraft Pathfinder. The Mars Rover Sojourner carried examined until September 1997, the environment of the probe.

• Surface structure on Mars