00:00Welcome aboard ESA's Mars Express. Today, we're flying over Nile Fossé, an enticing
00:08patch of Mars that is full of clues about the Red Planet's eventful past.
00:14This crater, coming up on our left, is Hargraves Impact Crater. Like the impact craters we
00:20find on Earth, Hargraves was created when a space rock smashed into Mars' surface,
00:27flinging out ancient material over the surrounding land.
00:31Right now, we're flying over the Nile Fossé trenches. Like scratches from a giant cat,
00:37these scars are hundreds of metres deep and hundreds of kilometres long. The trenches
00:44were created when Mars was hit by yet another space rock 4 billion years ago, creating one
00:50of Mars' biggest craters, located just off screen to our right.
00:56As the surface settled following the impact, some land cracked and fell away, forming the
01:01trenches of Nile Fossé.
01:04One of the reasons scientists have focused on Nile Fossé in recent years is that it
01:09is packed with many different minerals. These minerals are made in the presence of water,
01:15indicating that this region was not always the dry and dusty landscape that we see below
01:20us now.
01:23Because of what it could tell us about Mars' ancient and water-rich past, Nile Fossé was
01:28considered as a possible landing site for NASA's Curiosity rover, before the mission
01:34was ultimately sent to Gale Crater in 2012.
01:39Another NASA rover, Perseverance, later landed in the nearby Jezero Crater.
01:51Thank you for joining us on a tour of Nile Fossé. See you next time on board Mars Express.
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