Best of the VMC
An eclectic collection of the 'best of' images captured by the Mars Express Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) during testing and optimisation in 2007. The selection includes a crescent Mars, Mars' rotation and views of the Red Planet's 'volcano family' (we've also included a few images taken by the VMC in 2003). All images Copyright (C) 2009 European Space Agency. All rights reserved. You may download and republish these images for educational, personal or informational purposes. All usage must in any event be non-commercial. All usage and republication in any media must maintain the copyright and credit claim associated with each individual image. If no credit is cited, then the default credit shall be "Credit: ESA European Space Agency."
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VMC view over top of Mars Express 6 Jun 2003 Mars Express 03-157 08.45.40 Img No 4.png This image was taken during the cruise phase en route to Mars. Beagle was still attached to Mars Express, and the lander fills most of this view. This was as designed - the idea being that if Beagle failed to separate, then controllers could see from the camera what state it was in, whether it was still attached, partly separated, etc. In the image, you are seeing the back of Beagle's aeroshell, which was wrapped in multi-layer insulation (MLI) blankets to protect it during the cruise to Mars. The blankets are like black plastic foil, and you can see them in this image - along with the seams where sections of MLI are joined together. You also see a white MLI clip (top right) that's used to hold it to the shell, plus there are small white dots, which are holes in the MLI to allow outgassing after launch - these are white because under the black layer is a silver layer that's reflecting light. The bright white region at the bottom of the image is more reflection from sunlight which has been overexposed.
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VMC - First light from Mars (38° error!) 28 Jan 2007 Mars Express 07-028 21.48.52 VMC Img No 27.png Unfortunately, due to a coordinate error defining the attitude of the spacecraft, we pointed 38 degrees in the wrong direction! Luckily VMC has a 40 degree FOV (field of view), so we caught a sliver of Mars on the edge of the image, proving that after 3 years of hibernation without being switched on VMC was still operational and could indeed image the planet it is orbiting. Exposure time: 9ms
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First full disc image 26 Feb 2007 Mars Express 07-057 03.50.03 VMC Img No 1.png With the coordinate error resolved, this was the first full-disc image captured of Mars, on 2007, DoY (day of the year) 57. It clearly shows surface features such as craters and valleys as well as a heavy build up of clouds and ice around the south pole (bottom of the image). The faint pale structure towards the top of the image is Aurorae Chaos - the network of valleys and hills to the west of Valles Marineris. Towards the bottom of the image is the large basin of Argyre Planitia surrounded by a number of craters, including Galle, Wirtz, Lohse, Helmholtz, Arkhangelsky, Hale and Bond. Exposure Time: 14ms
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Martian sunset 26 Feb 2007 (1 of 3) Mars Express 07-087 03.26.15 VMC Img No 29.png First in a series of three images captured in 2007 on days of the year (DoY) 87, 99 and 124. They show the planet in various illumination conditions as the angle between the Sun, Mars, and the Mars Express spacecraft changes due to the motion of Mars around the Sun. The terrain on each image is different so no particular features have been highlighted. Exposure Time: 14ms Martian Sunset - 1/3 Note: Same image as 07-087_032615_29 but rotated 90 degrees
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Martian sunset 9 Apr 2007 (2 of 3) Mars Express 07-099 10.30.54 VMC Img No 6.png Second in a series of three images captured in 2007 on days of the year (DoY) 87, 99 and 124. They show the planet in various illumination conditions as the angle between the Sun, Mars, and the Mars Express spacecraft changes due to the motion of Mars around the Sun. The terrain on each image is different so no particular features have been highlighted. Exposure Time: 5ms Martian Sunset - 2/3
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Martian sunset 21 Apr 2007 (3 of 3) Mars Express 07-124 01.44.03 VMC Img No 3.png Third in a series of three images captured in 2007 on days of the year (DoY) 87, 99 and 124. They show the planet in various illumination conditions as the angle between the Sun, Mars, and the Mars Express spacecraft changes due to the motion of Mars around the Sun. The terrain on each image is different so no particular features have been highlighted. Exposure Time: 2ms Martian Sunset - 3/3 Note: Same image as 07-124_014403_03 but rotated 90 degrees
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Sunburst at Mars 1 Jun 2007 Mars Express 07-152 01.43.30 VMC Img No 1.png As Mars orbits the Sun, Mars Express periodically enters eclipse seasons during which Mars and the Sun are in roughly the same direction as seen from the VMC - so the planet is a crescent and the Sun dominates the image (even though it's not in the field of view). In this picture, the bright burst of light is not actually the Sun, but a reflection from part of the spacecraft near the VMC. This casts lens flare artefacts across the image, just like when the Sun shines too brightly into the edge of a camera's lens on Earth. Looking past the artefacts though, a beautiful view of the crescent planet can be seen, with the glowing ring of the atmosphere lighting almost 270 degrees of the disc. Exposure time: 14ms
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Polar vortex 27 Sep 2007 Mars Express 07-270 18.58.03 VMC Img No 1.png Vortex clouds – cloud systems being blown in a circle around the poles - have long been known on planets of the solar system, including Earth and Mars. Venus Express has confirmed a double vortex formation at Venus. This VMC images shows the circular pattern of clouds circling the Martian North Pole (which is just in the darkness). This gives a good impression of how powerful this vortex is. Exposure time: 14ms
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First glimpse of Olympus Mons 15 Oct 2007 Mars Express 07-288 17.01.15 VMC Img No 1.png This image from 2007, DoY 288 (15 Oct), was the first VMC image of the largest volcano in the solar system – Olympus Mons. It is the large shadow in the overexposed region to the left of the disc. Olympus Mons is a volcano of unreal proportions – covering an area the size of Germany, it is 27 km from top to bottom (3 times Mount Everest) and is ringed by cliffs 6 km high. The volcano is in fact so large that if you stood on the surface of the planet you would not be able to see the whole volcano as the planet would curve away. When this image was taken, the spacecraft was over the North Pole (it is in shadow at the top of the image). Exposure time: 14ms
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Clouds casting shadows 30 Oct 2007 Mars Express 07-303 06.23.35 VMC Img No 1.png There appear to be bright objects casting shadows just to the left of centre in this image. These could be clouds floating in the Martian atmosphere, casting there shadows on the ground below. By calculating the distance between the clouds and their shadows a measure of their height could be taken. Exposure time: 14ms
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Olympus Mons face-on 9 Nov 2007 Mars Express 07-313 08.18.58 VMC Img No 1.png The giant volcano of Mars, Olympus Mons, is captured here face-on, nearly in the centre of the image. The immense scale of the feature can be clearly seen in relation to the rest of the planet. The ring of shadow around the top edge is evidence of the 6km cliffs that surround the volcano. Also visible in the image is the 70km caldera, or crater, at the top of the volcano. Exposure time: 14ms
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Clouds above the limb 26 Nov 2007 Mars Express 07-330 00.55.04 VMC Img No 15.png This was the first time the camera was used at lower altitude (~4000 km). While flying across the planet, VMC imaged the limb – the edge of the planet. Here, seen above the edge of the disc, is the side profile of cloud cover floating around the limb of the planet. This could be studied to determine the height of the clouds above the surface. Exposure time: 28ms
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South Pole of Mars 3 Dec 2007 Mars Express 07-337 01.27.12 VMC Img No 3.png This is the second low-altitude pass over the planet and we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of what appears to be the ice cap of the South Pole of Mars in the left of the image. The South Pole is variable seasonally and is smaller than the North Pole. It was the area where Mars Express made one of its first major discoveries, with the OMEGA instrument, confirming in 2004 the existence of water. Exposure time: 28ms
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'Family' view of the Martian volcanoes 11 Dec 2007 Mars Express 07-358 11.59.34 VMC Img No 1.png This image shows all four of the giant Tharsis volcanoes on Mars. The giant Olympus Mons is just visible in the middle of the image, hiding half in shadow. The peaks of the three Tharsis Montes can be seen running along from the left middle to bottom centre of the image. They are, from bottom to top, Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons and Ascraeus Mons. Exposure time: 14ms
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