# @europeanspaceagency on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DKr4j5ktvVC
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/35582108-europeanspaceagency-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/142799f8ca.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-06-09T15:50:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** J.L.Lopez (@xandler80) — https://gondola.cc/xandler80

## Caption

How to make a rocky road... Martian-style? 🔴

This new image from our Mars Express is a visual feast: meet Deuteronilus Cavus, a 120 km-wide crater on Mars that’s layered with signs of ancient volcanoes, glaciers, water erosion, and windblown dust.

It began as a classic impact crater, formed when a space rock slammed into Mars 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago. But that was just the base layer. Over time, lava spread across the region, water carved channels, ice froze and thawed, and winds reshaped the surface.

In close-up views, you’ll spot:
- Grooves left by glacial movement
- Channels possibly formed by flowing water
- Jumbled blocks that resemble rocky road cake
- Wrinkle ridges from volcanic activity

The crater is a geological time capsule — each feature telling a story of Mars’s evolving climate and surface.

Deuteronilus Cavus lies where Mars’s highlands meet the lowlands, and its ice-rich features likely formed when the planet’s tilt shifted, triggering glaciation at these mid-latitudes.

Captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera in October 2024, this is just one of the many stunning views from Mars Express, a mission that’s been uncovering the Red Planet’s secrets for over 20 years.

📸 europeanspaceagency/ germanaerospacecenter/ fu_berlin; creativecommons BY-SA 3.0 IGO
📸 NASA/MGS/MOLA

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 13,956
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 55

## Credits

These are the roles credited on Gondola. Credits may be incomplete.
A brand, account owner, or featured person is not necessarily the creator.

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ESA - European Space Agency | @europeanspaceagency | https://gondola.cc/europeanspaceagency | Government Organization |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Producer |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Editor |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Social Media Manager |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Publisher |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Copywriter |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Community Manager |

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