A massive, icy Mars crater stares up at a Red Planet orbiter (image)

A high aerial view above a rocky, desolate landscape, with a deep, enormous crater scooped out from nearly half the image on the right. There is also a much smaller crater on the left.

A massive Mars impact crater dominates a new view from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). 

The result of an ancient asteroid impact, the crater is located in Mars' Utopia Planitia. That's the largest known impact basin in the entire solar system, with a diameter of roughly 2,050 miles (3,300 kilometers), or  twice the size of Earth's Sahara Desert from north to south. Interesting ice-related features on and below the surface of the crater lend insight on the Red Planet’s watery past, according to a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA).