Mars Express Blog | About us

About us 10 February, 2010 16:06

About this blog

Welcome to the Mars Express Blog!

This blog is operated by ESA - the European Space Agency - as an unofficial and in-depth source of information for the general public. Click on 'Full story' for important information and disclaimer.
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About us 03 February, 2010 17:57

We asked the team working on the Mars Express Blog to introduce themselves.

Slideshow

Easily claiming the title of most impressive ground station in the world, DSS-63 is one of only three 70m antennas on the planet. Taking 3 years to build the original antenna (64m) was finished in 1973 to support early JPL Mars missions. In the 1980s the upgrade to 70m was made to support the Voyager extended mission. With this upgrade these dishes became the largest ground stations in the world, communicating with spacecraft at the edge of our solar system. Credit: Thomas Ormston http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomas_ormston/2571785802/in/set-72157605571353325/

Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

35m Cebreros antenna, ESA DSA-2. While not as big as the 70m dish at DSN Madrid, the 35m ESA dish was still a sight to behold. Credit: Thomas Ormston

MEX engineers in Dedicated Control Room at ESOC for flight-testing of new commands for ASPERA, 9 December 2011