Mars Express spots rapid dark wave creeping across the Martian surface
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express captured an HRSC image showing a fast-spreading dark patch across Utopia Planitia on Mars, created by winds blowing ash from ancient eruptions or revealing buried igneous rock. A side‑by‑side with a 1976 Viking view highlights the change. Scientists say winds are moving surface material and exposing new geology, with features suggesting buried water ice and impact scars revealing Mars’s complex past.