This article is about the plain on Mars. For other uses, see Elysium (disambiguation).
Elysium Planitia
MOLA topographical map of Elysium Planitia (spacecraft landing sites are annotated in Commons)
Coordinates
3°00′N154°42′E / 3.0°N 154.7°E / 3.0; 154.7
Elysium Planitia, located in the Elysium and Aeolis quadrangles, is a broad plain that straddles the equator of Mars, centered at 3°00′N154°42′E / 3.0°N 154.7°E / 3.0; 154.7.[1] It lies to the south of the volcanic province of Elysium, the second largest volcanic region on the planet, after Tharsis. Elysium contains the major volcanoes Elysium Mons, Albor Tholus and Hecates Tholus. Another more ancient shield volcano, Apollinaris Mons, is situated just to the south of eastern Elysium Planitia. Within the plains, Cerberus Fossae is the only Mars location with recent volcanic eruptions. Lava flows dated no older than 0.2 million years from the present have been found,[2] and evidence has been found that volcanic activity may have occurred as recently as 53,000 years ago. Such activity could have provided the environment, in terms of energy and chemicals, needed to support life forms.[3][4]
The largest craters in Elysium Planitia are Eddie, Lockyer, and Tombaugh. The planitia also has river valleys—one of which, Athabasca Valles may be one of the youngest on Mars. On the north east side is an elongated depression called Orcus Patera, and this and some of the eastern plains were imaged in the 1965 Mariner 4 flyby.[5]
A 2005 photo of a locale in Elysium Planitia at 5°N, 150°E by the Mars Express spacecraft shows what may be ash-covered water ice. The volume of ice is estimated to be 800 km (500 mi) by 900 km (560 mi) in size and 45 m (148 ft) deep, similar in size and depth to the North Sea.[6] The ice is thought to be the remains of water floods from the Cerberus Fossae fissures about 2 to 10 million years ago. The surface of the area is broken into 'plates' like broken ice floating on a lake (see below). Impact crater counts show that the plates are up to 1 million years older than the gap material, showing that the area solidified much too slowly for the material to be basaltic lava.[7]
^"Elysium Planitia". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^Horvath, David G.; Moitra, Pranabendu; Hamilton, Christopher W.; Craddock, Robert A.; Andrews-Hanna, Jeffrey C. (2021), "Evidence for geologically recent explosive volcanism in Elysium Planitia, Mars", Icarus, 365: 114499, arXiv:2011.05956, Bibcode:2021Icar..36514499H, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114499, S2CID 226299879
^O'Callaghan, Jonathan (20 November 2020). "Signs of Recent Volcanic Eruption on Mars Hint at Habitats for Life - Not thought to be volcanically active, Mars may have experienced an eruption just 53,000 years ago". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
^Horvath, David G.; et al. (2021). "Evidence for geologically recent explosive volcanism in Elysium Planitia, Mars". Icarus. 365: 114499. arXiv:2011.05956. Bibcode:2021Icar..36514499H. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114499. S2CID 226299879.
^Williams, Dave; Friedlander, Jay. "The Orcus Patera region on Mars". Mars - Mariner 4. NASA. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
^Young, Kelly (25 February 2005). "'Pack ice' suggests frozen sea on Mars". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 9 February 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
^Murray, JB; Muller, JP; Neukum, G; Werner, SC; Van Gasselt, S; Hauber, E; Markiewicz, WJ; Head Jw, 3rd; et al. (17 March 2007). "Evidence ... for a frozen sea close to Mars' equator". Nature. 434 (7031): 352–355. Bibcode:2005Natur.434..352M. doi:10.1038/nature03379. PMID 15772653. S2CID 4373323.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
ElysiumPlanitia, located in the Elysium and Aeolis quadrangles, is a broad plain that straddles the equator of Mars, centered at 3°00′N 154°42′E / 3...
UTC aboard an Atlas V-401 launch vehicle and successfully landed at ElysiumPlanitia on Mars on 26 November 2018 at 19:52:59 UTC. InSight was active on...
Iceland, when lavas cover water-saturated substrates. The western ElysiumPlanitia basin can be described as almost a perfect equipotential surface because...
Bulge, with its enormous shield volcanoes, while Argyre Planitia is roughly antipodal to Elysium, the other major uplifted region of shield volcanoes on...
Amazonian-period outflow channel system in the central ElysiumPlanitia region of Mars, located to the south of the Elysium Rise. They are part of a network of outflow...
equator, south of ElysiumPlanitia and north of the impact crater Gusev (the landing site of the Mars rover Spirit). ElysiumPlanitia separates it from...
The Elysium quadrangle covers the area between 180° to 225° west longitude and 0° to 30° north latitude on Mars. The northern part of ElysiumPlanitia, a...
size of the state of Oregon has recently been described in western ElysiumPlanitia. The flow is believed to have been emplaced turbulently over the span...
redirect targets Chloride-bearing deposits on Mars Composition of Mars ElysiumPlanitia Fretted terrain Glaciers on Mars Groundwater on Mars Hecates Tholus...
point: 109.7 E, 25.1 N, less than 40 km from target location in Utopia Planitia. More details expected later!" (Tweet). Retrieved 2021-05-15 – via Twitter...
planetary nomenclature. Plains may be named denoted "planitia" or "planum", depending on height. Planitia (plural: planitiae) is Latin for plain. It is the...
Amazonis Planitia (/əˈmæzənɪs pləˈnɪʃiə/, Latin Amāzŏnis) is one of the smoothest plains on Mars. It is located between the Tharsis and Elysium volcanic...
Gale crater from the Curiosity Rover (REMS), (Archive ) Weather at ElysiumPlanitia from the Insight Lander HRSC – Clouds Nature study explains mystery...
measured the crustal field at the Insight landing site located in ElysiumPlanitia to be ~2 µT. This detailed ground-level data is an order of magnitude...
Lethe Vallis is a valley in the ElysiumPlanitia on Mars, located at 4° North and 206.5° West. It is 225 km long and is named after river Lethe in Katmai...
displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Composition of Mars ElysiumPlanitia Extraterrestrial life – Life not on earth Fretted terrain Geology of...
Mars, was launched on 5 May 2018. It landed successfully in Mars's ElysiumPlanitia on 26 November 2018. NASA's Mars 2020 and CNSA's Tianwen-1 were both...
with the Curiosity Rover. 2018 – The robotic probe Insight lands on ElysiumPlanitia, Mars. 2019 – A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes western Albania leaving...
Mars Composition of Mars Concepts and Techniques in Modern Geography ElysiumPlanitia Fretted terrain Geology of Mars Glaciers on Mars Gravity of Mars Groundwater...
Water ice on Mars likeliest areas (December 10, 2019) Mars – Utopia Planitia Almost all water on Mars today exists as ice, though it also exists in small...
Mars, consisting of a northwestern and southeastern peak rising above ElysiumPlanitia. The name Hibes Montes is a classical albedo name. It has a diameter...
margin of ElysiumPlanitia, at 1.6°S, 171°E. It is fairly large, being 244 km (152 mi) in diameter. Avernus Colles can be found in the Elysium quadrangle...
create these features; in particular, the Tharsis rise, Olympus Mons, Elysium Mons, and Arabia Terra. As a result, very few impacts have been detected...
2...61K. doi:10.5194/gi-2-61-2013. mars.nasa.gov. "Mars Weather at ElysiumPlanitia". NASA's InSight Mars Lander. Archived from the original on 1 December...