Topographic map of Thyles Rupes on Mars

This colour-coded topographic image shows Thyles Rupes, one of the most prominent cliff-faces in Mars’s ancient southern highlands.

It was created from data collected by ESA’s Mars Express on 17 February 2026 (orbit 27925) and is based on a digital terrain model of the region, from which the topography of the landscape can be derived. Lower parts of the surface are shown in blues and purples, while higher altitude regions show up in whites and reds, as indicated on the scale to the top right.

North is to the right. The ground resolution of the original image is approximately 65 m/pixel and the image is centred at about 69°S/137°E.

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[Image description: A bright, rainbow-coloured patch of Mars, with more red tones at the lower left, green-blue tones in the centre, and yellow-orange tones on the right. The dark red patch at the lower left stands out, as it is filled with white. Several orange-red ridges also stand out, running from the top left of the frame to the bottom right. A colour scale bar indicates that purple-blue colours are lowest altitude, green-yellow colours are medium, and red-white-brown colours are highest altitude.]