Say hello to Mawrth Vallis on Mars. Mawrth means Mars in Welsh, and Vallis just means valley. This region on Mars is an ancient channel, thought by most Mars scientists to have been carved by outburst floods in Mars’ past. It’s one of four candidate landing sites under consideration for the ExoMars 2018 mission.

Mawrth Vallis is one of the oldest outflow channels on Mars, at least 3.8 billion years old. It hosts large exposures of finely layered clay-rich rocks, a strong indication that water did once play a role here.

The image above combines images from ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft with topography data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor.

Read more about candidates landing sites for ExoMars 2018 mission

Bottom line: Mawrth Vallis is an ancient outflow channel on Mars and one of four candidate landing sites under consideration for the ExoMars 2018 mission.