Cydonia - the Face on Mars movie

This dramatic 3D animation, produced by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) science team, beautifully simulates a flight over the Cydonia 'Face on Mars', one of the most famous surface features on the planet.

The movie sequence was produced through a combination of digital data from the HRSC and the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on board NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, in a technique similar to that used to create the Cydonia 'Face' 3D still images published on the ESA portal in September. The 3D animation starts looking towards the East, and finishes with a still image looking South.

The Cydonia region lies at approximately 40.75° North and 350.54° East, and is located in the Arabia Terra region on Mars, in the transition zone between the Southern Highlands and the planet's northern plains.