August 11, 2021. (Click picture for huge, high-resolution picture.)
Several filmmakers have used the desert landscapes of Wadi Rum as a stand-in for the Red Planet.
Wadi Rum appears to be like like few different locations on Earth. In reality, the distinctive desert landscapes have impressed various filmmakers to make use of the valley in southern Jordan as a stand-in for Mars.
Among them was Ridley Scott, director of the 2015 movie The Martian. Scott made frequent use of Wadi Rum’s surroundings, usually bringing viewers alongside on panoramic excursions of surreal inselbergs, spires, and turrets of rock as fictional astronaut Mark Watney tries to outlive and make his manner dwelling from Mars.
When considered from area, it’s straightforward to see why Scott selected this place. The colours and textures of Wadi Rum—proven within the natural-color Landsat eight picture above—are a detailed match to these discovered on Mars. The space, which seems within the film on a number of events, options towering sandstone and granite inselbergs that punctuate valleys blanketed with iron-rich sand. It contains one of many area’s most iconic rock formations: the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a bunch of pure stone pillars that jut from the northern fringe of Jebel Um Ishrin.
Many of the distinguished rock formations in Wadi Rum are comprised of partially eroded layers of sedimentary rock—principally purple and white sandstones—that fashioned lots of of thousands and thousands of years in the past when sea ranges had been increased and the realm was muck on the backside of an ocean on high of a base of granite. After sea ranges dropped and uncovered the brand new sedimentary rocks, a mix of tectonic lifting, wind, and water eroded and sculpted them, leaving valleys crammed with sand and jagged terrain.
Scott felt the surroundings was such a great approximation of Mars that he solely made a number of adjustments when enhancing. He added a background purple mud to many photographs, and sometimes added computer-generated clouds and dirt storms for dramatic impact. “I didn’t do anything but shoot it at the right time, from the right positions,” Ridley informed Space.com. “To me, [Wadi Rum] is the Eighth Wonder of the World. It’s incredible.”.
Mars aficionados and sci-fi film buffs can maintain a watch out for Wadi Rum in a number of different films. Red Planet (2000), The Last Days on Mars (2013), Prometheus (2012), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) all used Wadi Rum as a stand-in for Mars or different fictional desert planets. “I was in awe of that place, it was really, really special,” actor Matt Damon mentioned of the time he spent filming there. “[It is] one of the most spectacular and beautiful places I have ever seen, and like nothing I’ve ever seen anywhere else on Earth.”
NASA Earth Observatory picture by Lauren Dauphin, utilizing Landsat knowledge from the U.S. Geological Survey.
