The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Iani Chaos is a large depression with dimensions of 330 kilometres in length and 430 kilometres in width, located at 2.8° south and 342.5° east. Individual blocks of rock and hills form a disrupted, knobby pattern in an apparently 'chaotic' distribution. Terraces and 'islands' are likely remnants of the pre-existing surface, which collapsed after cavities had formed beneath it - ice in these cavities might have been melted by volcanic heat and flowed into Ares Vallis towards the northern lowlands. Due to the hints of water having formed it, such a landscape is of special geological interest but it is also well suited to present the design and the potential of the topographic map series.