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Utopia Planitia (Latin: "Nowhere Plain") is the largest recognized impact basin on Mars and in the Solar System with an estimated diameter of 3300 km, and is the Martian region where the Viking 2 lander touched down and began exploring on September 3, 1976. It is located at the antipode of Argyre Planitia, centered at . It is in the Casius quadrangle, Amenthes quadrangle, and the Cebrenia quadrangle of Mars. Many rocks at Utopia Planitia appear perched, as if wind removed much of the soil at their bases.〔Mutch, T. et al. 1976. The Surface of Mars: The View from the Viking 2 Lander. Science: 194. 1277–1283.〕〔Hartmann, W. 2003. A Traveler's Guide to Mars. Workman Publishing. NY NY.〕 A hard surface crust is formed by solutions of minerals moving up through soil and evaporating at the surface.〔Arvidson, R. A. Binder, and K. Jones. 1976. The Surface of Mars. Scientific American: 238. 76–89.〕 Some areas of the surface exhibit what is called "scalloped topography", a surface that seems to have been carved out by an ice cream scoop. This surface is thought to have formed by the degradation of an ice-rich permafrost.〔Sejourne, A. et al. 2012. Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia, Mars. Icarus. 60:248-254.〕 ==In popular culture== In the ''Star Trek'' media franchise, Utopia Planitia—both on Mars's surface and in areosynchronous orbit above it—is the site of a major Federation shipyard. The USS ''Enterprise''-D, USS ''Defiant'', USS ''Sao Paulo'', USS ''Voyager'', and USS ''Enterprise''-F were built there.〔 The Flaming Lips song "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)" was released in 2002 on the album ''Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots''. Wikimolautopia.jpg|MOLA map showing boundaries for Utopia Planitia and other regions 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Utopia Planitia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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