03-06-2013 07:32 PM CEST
The
journey of Mars Express, from drawing board through launch, to its key
science highlights during ten years of operations.
With its suite of seven instruments, Mars Express has studied the subsurface of the Red Planet to the upper atmosphere and beyond to the two tiny moons Phobos and Deimos, providing an in depth analysis of the planet's history and returning stunning 3D images.
With its suite of seven instruments, Mars Express has studied the subsurface of the Red Planet to the upper atmosphere and beyond to the two tiny moons Phobos and Deimos, providing an in depth analysis of the planet's history and returning stunning 3D images.
03-06-2013 07:24 PM CEST
This
unique atlas comprises a series of maps showing the distribution and
abundance of minerals formed in water, by volcanic activity, and by
weathering to create the dust that makes Mars red.
Together the maps
provide a global context for the dominant geological processes that have
defined the planet's history. The maps were built from ten years of
data collected by the OMEGA visible and infrared mineralogical mapping
spectrometer on Mars Express.
The animation cycles through maps
showing: individual sites where a range of minerals that can only be
formed in the presence of water were detected; maps of olivine and
pyroxene, minerals that tell the story of volcanism and the evolution of
the planet's interior; and ferric oxide and dust.
Ferric oxide is a
mineral phase of iron, and is present everywhere on the planet: within
the bulk crust, lava outflows and the dust oxidised by chemical
reactions with the martian atmosphere, causing the surface to 'rust'
slowly over billions of years, giving Mars its distinctive red hue.
The map showing hydrated minerals includes detections made by both ESA's
Mars Express and by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Copyright:
Hydrated mineral map: ESA/CNES/CNRS/IAS/Université Paris-Sud, Orsay;
NASA/JPL/JHUAPL; Olivine, pyroxone, ferric dust & dust maps:
ESA/CNES/CNRS/IAS/Université Paris-Sud, Orsay Orsay; Video production:
ESA
03-06-2013 06:59 PM CEST
This
video gives an overview of ESA's underground training course. An
abbreviation of Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human
behaviour and performance Skills, CAVES prepares astronauts to work
safely and effectively and solve problems as a multicultural team while
exploring uncharted areas using space procedures.
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