Incredible pictures of Mars - and they look surprisingly like some parts of Earth



Ever since Victorian astronomers pointed their telescopes towards Mars and wrongly believed they had discovered canals, mankind has been obsessed by the red planet.

Now these astonishing new images - captured by a European spacecraft in orbit around Mars - are helping to fuel that fascination.

They show in astonishing detail a network of giant valleys, vast plains and towering waterfalls carved into the surface of our neighbouring planet, millions of miles away.

Spectacular: A view of Echus Chasma, one of the largest water source regions on Mars, showing a network of valleys

And while Mars today appears lifeless and parched, they are a reminder of how its surface was shaped by fast flowing streams, rivers and oceans.

The pictures were captured by the European Space Agency's Mars Express Probe - a spacecraft the size of a large fridge-freezer that has been circling Mars since Christmas 2003.

Mars Express infamously gave Britain's ill-fated Beagle 2 probe a lift to Mars. While that mission ended in disaster, the Mars Express has been a fantastic success.

Over the last five years its stereo, high resolution camera has taken thousands of images of the surface, revealing the planet's awe inspiring beauty in unprecedented detail.

The latest images show the Echus Chasma, a vast valley just north of Mars equator around 62 miles long and six miles wide. The feature is cut into a high plateau and its steep-sided cliffs - some 12,000 feet high - bear a striking resemblance to the canyons of North America.

Barren: Located on the eastern part of Echus Chasma is this cliff which is up to 4,000 metres high

Thunderous waterfalls may have once plunged over these cliffs, from the high Lunea Planum plateau that surrounds the Echus Chasma, on to the valley floor below.



Some of the images show a five mile wide impact crater formed when asteroids - lumps of floating rock in space - smashed into Mars. Others show a 15 mile long dyke formed when molten rock, evidence of Mars's volcanic past.

At the edges of the main valley lie smaller light-coloured tributary valleys or "sapping canyons" - around six miles long and 1800 feet deep.



The Echus Chasma - described by Nasa as one of the largest water sources on the planet - is connected to a much bigger valley system called the Kasei Valles which extends thousands of miles to the north.



Both valleys are impressive - but are dwarfed by an even larger canyon which lies to the south. The Valles Marineris is four miles deep in places, around 120 miles wide and 2,500 miles long.

Echus Chasma is the source region of Kasei Valles, which extends 3,000km to the north

The images were created by combining pictures taken from different orbits. The images can be viewed from different angles in three dimensions

Mars Express launched in June 2003. The craft is a cube around 5ft by 6ft by 5ft with two 60ft long radar antennae. It is photographing the entire surface of Mars in high resolution, producing a detailed colour map of the minerals on the surface, mapping the atmosphere and probing beneath the surface using radar.

Interest in Mars is at an all time high. Nasa and ESA have announced plans to bring back rocks and soil samples from Mars, while Nasa has three probes on the planet - two rovers and its Phoenix polar lander, which arrived in May.

The Phoenix has scraped ice from beneath the surface of Mars and is analysing samples in its laboratory to see if the planet has the right chemicals needed for life.

In 2013, ESA is planning to launch ExoMars - a robotic rover than will explore the planet's surface. If successful, it will be Europe's first mission to the Martian surface.



Scientists unveiled plans on Monday to bring back rocks from the Red Planet as a preliminary step to putting a man on Mars.

Professor Monica Grady, at the Open University, co-chaired the expert panel that wrote the mission proposal.

She said it was a vital next step before considering a crewed mission.

'If you can't bring a rock back you are not going to be able to bring people back,' she said.