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--- blog:articles:general:keen_interest_in_mars [2019/03/21 14:39] – [Elysium Quadrant] Phil Ide
+++ blog:articles:general:keen_interest_in_mars [2020/06/14 00:14] (current) – [A Keen Interest In Mars] Phil Ide
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 ====== A Keen Interest In Mars ======
 {{:blog:mars-mola-globe.jpg?300 |MOLA globe of Mars}}You may have noticed from pages such as the [[:blog:aardvaark:mars_weather|Mars Weather Report]] page, that I have a keen interest in Mars, Martian weather, and the InSight lander.
 Mars itself, and the incredible science we are doing there is of course a fascination in and of itself. However, my interest goes deeper than that. My latest novel (at the time this article was written - March 2019) is about the exploration of Mars. NASA have provided a wealth of data and information for me to glut on, and I've tried to weave as much as I can into the story, without bogging the story down in detail. Tough call, but it's a fascinating place, and very definitely an alien world with very strange phenomena, so I figured I'd get away with it if I presented that information right.
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 {{:blog:usgs-mars-mc-14-amenthesregion-mola.png?400 |MOLA map of Amenthes Quadrant}} The Amenthes quadrant is the next map to the west (left) of the Elysium quadrant. You can see the drastic change in the terrain straight away. Those little speckles surrounding Terra Cimmeria are giant stepped mesas, up to 3km high, and (obviously) big enough to be visible from space. To the north is Utopia Planitia, where Viking 2 landed back in the 1970's. Utopia is the largest impact basin in the solar system. To the west is Isidis Planitia, where the ill-fated Beagle 2 landed. The great gouge running through Terra Cimmeria is an ancient river valley, culminating in a huge river delta.
-To the west of Isidis is Syrtis Major. Syrtis Major was one of the first topographical features to be observed on Mars, and was believed at first to be a sea. It has had several names, including the Kaiser Sea and the Hourglass Sea before its current name was adopted. It is in fact a volcano. It is one with a low relief - it rises around 6km up from Isidis, but the slope is gentle, at around one degree. It is vast, and covers almost a million square kilometres.
+To the west of Isidis is Syrtis Major. Syrtis Major was one of the first topographical features to be observed on Mars, and was believed at first to be a sea. It has had several names, including the Kaiser Sea and the Hourglass Sea, before its current name was adopted. It is in fact a volcano. It is one with a low relief - it rises around 6km up from Isidis, but the slope is gentle, at around one degree. It is vast, and covers almost a million square kilometres.
 If you're wondering where the Tharsis volcanoes are, they're on the opposite side of the planet.