HomeMars Express Close Flybys of the Martian Moon Phobos 2011
We received late yesterday the processed images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) science team and they are fabulous! The HRSC team have provided an excellent set of images and captions showing a 3D view of the moon and the proposed landing site of the Phobos-Grunt mission.
-- Stuart & Daniel
Note: Each of the images below links through to a high-resolution (TIFF) file.
The first image shows the geometrical relationships between Mars, Phobos, and Mars Express at the time of the sequence. Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).
Stereo-1 channel image of Phobos: his image has been photometrically enhanced to illuminate darker areas. Resolution: 4.1 meters per pixel. Image: Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).
3D Image (red-cyan anaglyph): The HRSC camera recorded images of Phobos on 9 January 2011 at a distance of 100 km with a resolution of 8.1 m/pixel. Due to the stereo viewing geometry during the flyby, a small part of the moon’s edge is only visible for the right eye resulting in an odd 3D-perception in this area. This part has been slightly adjusted for better viewing. Also, for the left eye at the left edge of the image four small data gaps have been interpolated. Image: Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).
SRC Images: Superimposed on the HRSC nadir image are 7 SRC images with a resolution of about 3 m/pixel. The Super Resolution Channel images show more details of the surface of Phobos. Image: Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).
Sequence of 5 HRSC-channels, orbit 8974: (left to right) stereo S1 (4.1 m/pixel), photometric P1 (8.1 m/pixel), nadir ND (3.9 m/pixel), photometric p2 (8.2 m/pixel), stereo S2 (4.3 m/pixel). Image: Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).
Planned landing site of the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission: Image of Phobos with a resolution of 8.2 m/pixel in orbit 8974. The ellipses marked the previously planned (red) and currently considered (blue) landing sites for the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission. Image: Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).
Further information:
Markus Bauer
ESA Science and Robotic Exploration Communication Officer
Email: markus.bauer@esa.int
Tel: +31 71 565 6799
Mob: +31 61 594 3 954
Olivier Witasse
ESA Mars Express project scientist
ESTEC, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 71 565 8015
Email: owitasse@rssd.esa.int
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gerhard Neukum
Freie Universitaet Berlin
Fachbereich Geowissenschaften
Fachrichtung Planetologie und Fernerkundung
Mobile: +49 171-7647177
Telefon: +49 30 838 70579; +49 30 838 70575 (Sekr.)
Email: gneukum@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Prof. Dr. Ralf Jaumann
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
Institut für Planetenforschung, Planetengeologie
Tel.: +49 30 67055-400
Fax: +49 30 67055-402
Email: ralf.jaumann@dlr.de
23-01-2011 • 22:56:17
As we see in image one, the sun is behind MEX, Phobos is on the opposite side of MEX, and Mars is on the opposite side of Phobos. This being so, shouldn't we see Mars in the background? And if not, where out of the shot would Mars be? Thanks
23-01-2011 • 03:58:33
These are some nice shots. Can't wait to analyze and find the treasures myself. Thanks Dr. Neukem and everyone else!
21-01-2011 • 17:39:20
Amazing pictures! Well done guys!
Are the SRC images available in higher resolution? :-)
One comment: wouldn't the overlay have been better on the photometrically enhanced HSRC image?
23-01-2011 • 14:56:51
The SRC images will be available later in the Planetary Science Archive.
The quality of the SRCs is not as good as the team sometimes
achieves, the reason being the very high velocity of Phobos through the field
of view during this flyby (the closer you get, the higher the apparent
velocity). Consequently, during each SRC exposure, Phobos moved by 41
pixels, causing the horizontal smearing artefacts you can see. As usual, the team
corrected for this as far as possible, but in such an extreme case, the
recovered image has still lost much information.