ESA's New ESTRACK Antenna Receives a Photo of Mars

Tweet

Take a look at this image of Mars beamed back from the European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter to Europe's newest deep-space ESTRACK tracking station in Malargüe, Argentina. Mars Express used its Visual Monitoring Camera to take this image of Mars from 9,761 km (5065 mi) away.

It took the signal 18 minutes to cross the 327M km (203M mi) expanse of space between the Mars Express Orbiter and the new space tracking station in Argentina. 

Because of the angle of the orbiter, Mars appears to be lying on its side, daylight side down. On the dayside of this photo you can see three, possibly four large volcano domes, as well as numerous large canyons. 

The new European deep-tracking station makes the ESA only the second space agency (after NASA's Deep Space Network) to have coverage of the whole sky for deep space missions. The other two large 35m Deep Space Antennas in the ESA's Estrack system are located in New Norcia, Australia, and Cebreros, Spain. However, they have multiple tracking stations throughout the world, depicted below:

Click to Keep Reading

Frost in Argyre Basin on Mars

Tweet

Just like on Earth, a frost can develop on Mars. What you see below is a swath of land within the 1800km wide, 5km deep Argyre Basin, which was created from an enormous impact in the early part of Mars' history. The prominent crater partially captured in this image from Mars Express' High Resolution Stereo Camera is the 138km wide Hooke Crater.

Click to see original high resolution image from Mars Express. [See their article]

The frost you see in this image is actually carbon dioxide ice, which scientists believe only forms at ground level when it freezes out of the atmosphere. The reason why only the frost is only abundant in the southern (left) lowlands of this image is because of the angle of the sun at the time this image was taken. This image was taken at 1630 local time on Mars, when the Sun was at a 20 degrees above the horizon. It only had enough time to melt the frost off the north facing crater walls, but wasn't yet able to melt any in the low lying area to the south.

Understanding when and for how long frost can cover the surface of Mars will save future explorers from facing potential surprises! Imagine waking up in your space capsule only to look out the window and see the ground covered in ice!

Mars Photo of the Day - May 1 2012

Tweet

Today's Image of Mars shows how the Tharsis Trio (Arsia, Pavonis, and Ascraeus Mons) pale in comparison to Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the solar system. Of the Tharsis trio, Arsia Mons is the oldest and Ascraeus Mons is the youngest.

The Tharsis Quadrangle is full of volcanoes and is thought to have been volcanically active as recently as 100-250 million years ago, which is relatively recent in geological terms. It is thought that at one time the abundance of volcanoes in this region had an enormous impact on the climate of Mars.

Scientists have determined that the amount of carbon dioxide and water vapor released into the air by all the discovered Tharsis volcanoes would have been enough to create an atmosphere thicker than that currently on Earth. If this is the case the environment on Mars could have been completely different than what we see in images today.

Click on this image to see all images of Tharsis volcanoes showcased by Mars Travel. [See the Mars Express article with this image]

Credit: ESA/Mars Express

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!

Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 16 2011

Tweet

Today's Image of Mars is of Coprates Cantena, located in the Southern part of the Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars. Coprates Cantena is a chain of collapsed structures running parallel to the main valley, Coprates Chasma. It is not as deep as the main canyon, but you can still see layered deposits on the walls of the pits.

This image was taken on May 25 2004 by Mars Express Orbiter. Clicking on the image will take you to the original, full-screen, high resolution image from the ESA. 

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!

Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 26 2011

Tweet

Today's Mars Photo is of Hecates Tholus Volcano as taken by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express in 2004. See the photo in 3D.

This image below will take you to the larger hi-resolution image from the ESA.

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!

Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 25 2011

Tweet

Today's Mars Photo is of Galle Crater, which is a 230 km crater resembling the classic smiley face. This image was taken by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). This happy face crater was first discovered by the Viking I Orbiter mission.

This image will link to the original one on ESA servers, which is much  higher-resolution.

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!