It would seem that in these photos taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) on December 20, 2018, we see a Martian crater freshly covered with snow. In reality, however, this place is a very old glacier. This place is called Korolev Crater. The ice is layered in the crater and reaches into the deepest corners of the crater. This place has its own specific climate. The air moving above the crater cools down and descends. This creates a low temperature on its ice surface all the time. As a result, the ice in the crater never melts. According to scientists from the space agency ESA, this crater is in the so-called ice trap. Cold air here acts as a shield that protects the crater from warm air and sunlight, so it remains permanently frozen. Probably this 82-kilometre crater is one of a kind on the entire Red Planet.

The Mars Express satellite used a high definition stereo camera and recorded five different images of this amazing crater. Each image comes from a different spacecraft orbit, giving a different view of the crater. Scientists combined these images into one. Thanks to this technology, both photographs visible in the article were created. The Mars Express satellite is related to Christmas. The first entry into the orbit of the Red Planet took place on December 25, 2003. The spacecraft was flying from Earth for about half a year. The Mars Express satellite is the first ESA space spacecraft to explore a different planet. Several elements of the satellite come from the past. A high resolution stereoscopic camera and a map spectrometer are instruments that come from a mission called Mars 96. Her mission ended in failure, the probe didn't leave Earth.