Mars Express (MEX) - ESA orbiter

Astronomers have known for years that Mars possessed polar ice caps, but early attempts at chemical analysis suggested only that the northern cap could be composed of water ice, and the southern cap was thought to be carbon dioxide ice.

Recent space missions then suggested that the southern ice cap, existing all year round, could be a mixture of water and carbon dioxide. But only with Mars Express have scientists been able to confirm directly for the first time that water ice is present at the south pole too."

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-03-30 10:09:13

[http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … 40330.html]"Giant Postcard from Mars"

*Dang. Mars Express is giving us such exquisite-quality, crisp photos. I love those long stretches of multihued sands.

--Cindy

SBird · 2004-03-30 11:52:30

What I'm looking forward to is the 2006 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The HiRISE high resolution camera will have a pixel size of about 30-60 cm! That allows the imaging and IDing of objects less than a few feet across. I looked at the technical papers and the custom CCD is very impressive - the trick with matching the CCD register shifting to the movement of the orbiter with respect to the surface is very clever. It basically takes images in IR, red and green at high res. The red imaging part of the CCD is much wider, however, and can basically be used to put the full spectrum images into perspective. The IR and Green pictures will be about 1.2 km wide and the red will be about 6km wide. The IR/blue protions will be 4048 pixels across and the red will be 20,264 pixels across. That's a LOT of picture data!

It's also got a really powerful spectrometer for mineral identification, a subsurface radar to find ice up to a kilometer underground, a climate sounder to better characterize the atmosphere, new optical navigation gear to allow much more accurate aiming of future probes, and a UHF transmission capability to help ground probes communcate with Earth more rapidly. It's also got a HUGE transmitter antenna that is capable of much higher data transmission rates than previously possible.

The program page is [http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/mission/sc.html]here. Go to the Major PArts/Instruments links to find out more.

Incidentally, this orbiter is expected to return 34 TERAbytes of data, more than all the other JPL missions in history put together!

Julius Caeser · 2004-04-01 16:31:11

Anyone heard about rumours coming from Mars express team regarding finding traces of mineral salts allover martian surface? ???

Palomar · 2004-04-22 06:52:14

http://eu.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=12629]ME images of western flank of Olympus Mons

*Well, I guess there's a new Cold War going on. I haven't seen these pics -anywhere- on U.S.-originated sites. Decided to check Euspaceref.com (through spaceref.com).

Really gorgeous images, particularly the bottom two (perspective views). Those golds and ochres...

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-05-19 12:12:09

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Expres … _0.html]As Mars Turns...

*Click on where you want to "visit."

It seems ESA just isn't all that aggressive in getting data out!

--Cindy

::EDIT: Check out Ascraeus Mons. There are 3 features roughly uniform (to my eye) in appearance -- nearly the same size, etc. They're the roundish dents in the surface with what looks like a long scratch downward from them. Odd. I wonder how they formed that way, etc.

Palomar · 2004-06-12 06:11:57

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish … 04]Mangala Valles

*Another gem from Mars Express.

-*-

--Cindy

Rxke · 2004-06-22 11:45:33

Another update about the delay of the antenna-deployment...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/natu … 67.stm]BBC

Reading between the lines, i have the impression, that, irrelevant to the outcome of the study, they will go for it, consequences be damned...

It's a long wait, though... :bars2:

Shaun Barrett · 2004-06-22 19:58:00

Thanks, Rik.
I was wondering what had happened to that 'deep-water' detector. I hope it can be deployed safely in the end.
???

Rxke · 2004-06-23 03:03:22

Don't count on it...

*don tinfoil hat*

It's them darn Martians again, I tell ya! They infiltrated the company that built the antennae, and screwed with the minds of them designers!
We'll nevar find the thruth that way...

(Trying to laugh it off, but i'm really disturbed by this 'glitch' in the plans. I want to know where the water is!

Rxke · 2004-06-23 05:12:41

With or without the antenna, it sure produces some stunning pictures!
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Expres … tml]Valles Marineris in all its glory...

And be sure to (again) check out this older one of Mangala Valles, great outflow patterns in the last pic...

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Expres … QUD_0.html

"Beside the large outflow channels, a variety of smaller ‘dendritic’ valley networks with a number of tributary valleys can be seen near the main channels. This indicates possible precipitation."

Palomar · 2004-06-23 07:22:05

With or without the antenna, it sure produces some stunning pictures!
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Expres … tml]Valles Marineris in all its glory...
And be sure to (again) check out this older one of Mangala Valles, great outflow patterns in the last pic...
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Expres … QUD_0.html
"Beside the large outflow channels, a variety of smaller ‘dendritic’ valley networks with a number of tributary valleys can be seen near the main channels. This indicates possible precipitation."

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/marsexpr … .html]From spacedaily.com

*Taken with Hi-Res Stereo Camera (anaglyph). I think is the same as bottom pic in Rik's first link -- maybe "trimmed" image.

You beat me to it, Rik! You're sneaky.

--Cindy :;):

::EDIT:: The swirling gold in the copper and cinnamon colors
of Mangala Valles is exquisite. Mars is so pretty...I love all the warm colors.

Shaun Barrett · 2004-06-23 08:25:30

The 6Mb 3-D image of Mangala is absolutely stunning! Can the vertical relief really be so spectacular or has it been exaggerated?
There's at least one big crater there which Opportunity would definitely never get out of, if sent in to investigate!

Palomar · 2004-06-23 08:39:27

The 6Mb 3-D image of Mangala is absolutely stunning! Can the vertical relief really be so spectacular or has it been exaggerated?
There's at least one big crater there which Opportunity would definitely never get out of, if sent in to investigate!

*Don't mean to get off-topic, but yeah. Seems Mars is wonderfully chock full o' pitfalls. All the pics I've seen, and rarely a smooth and flat expanse of land (trying to keep in mind the scale of the images).

But of course I prefer canyons and mountains anyway.

ME is a superb instrument -- such stunning, crisp photos. Dreamily gorgeous. :*)

--Cindy

atomoid · 2004-06-23 14:40:31

The 6Mb 3-D image of Mangala is absolutely stunning! Can the vertical relief really be so spectacular or has it been exaggerated?
There's at least one big crater there which Opportunity would definitely never get out of, if sent in to investigate!

Truly stunning indeed! I too am wondering if the elevation is exaggerated, but im not too sure how ME arrives at its stereo separation and if it is consistent. I assume there's not two cameras, its just that the images are taken in sequence from the distance travelled between them in orbit. am i right? so these are actual stereo photographs as far as i am aware. i'd guess that the larger the stereo separation is between the two images (how far apart does ME take its stereo image sequence?) would amplify the perpective effect making the depth look more extreme:

The http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/mar … g]red/cyan 3D anaglyph image was created using the stereo- and nadir channels of the HRSC. The http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/mar … erspective view was calculated from the digital terrain model derived from the stereo and colour information of the image data.

When you zoom into it with anaglyphic glasses really shows how the Mars weve seen at the "safe" landing sites so far seem likely to turn out to be both an aesthetic and scientific bore by comparison.
We should take a chance on sending MER copies to places like this, but for now i guess well have to wait for MSL in 2010 which will be sent probably to another such "safe" landing site after MRO finds something "scientifically interesting but within the limits".
Although MER being so slow and terrain-challenged might have a hard time here if it sets down in hole, i think its worth the risk since its relatively cheap. Personally id like to drive down that big river canyon, although at Spirit's demonstrated speed it would take over 15 years to traverse just the roughly 150 km section that is visible in the image :bars2: . I guess we need to make some Mars Spider/Helicopter/Baloons, some way to get up or rapell down to examine all the layers in the gouged-out canyon walls. :up:

melkor · 2004-07-23 13:30:57

More yardangs for cindy:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Expres … l]yardangs

Palomar · 2004-07-23 13:51:13

More yardangs for cindy:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Expres … l]yardangs

*Thanks for posting, Melkor. This is quite an awesome pic (understatement!). I can't get over the clarity of ME's HRSC.

And the yardangs are "straight on." IIRC, all other pics I've seen of them are taken at an angle (MGS/MOC)...and usually non-color.

This is like being in a low-flying airplane, looking out over the terrain through a window. Amazing.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-07-27 11:47:17

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish … ]Fractured crater on Mars

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-07-30 05:34:15

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040729.html]Melas Chasma

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-08-03 13:02:38

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040729.html]Melas Chasma
--Cindy

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish … 004]...and Melas Chasma again!

*This is a superb image. As if you're 3.1 miles above.

--Cindy :up:

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