Moons Over Mariner Valley Phobos and Deimos above Valles Marinerus, the "Grand Canyon of Mars." The remains of one of many lost space probes from Earth are in the foreground. This image was inspired by an article I read about the real color of Mars. The images we've all seen are false color composites. Mars is not really very red. It's sort of an ochre color, and the sky is not butterscotch-colored, but pale blue or white, sometimes with thin cirrus clouds.