Mars Express VMC - the Mars Webcam

Mars Express VMC - the Mars Webcam http://webservices.esa.int/blog/blog/6 The VMC: An ordinary camera in an extraordinary place! The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) - known around here affectionately and unofficially as the 'Mars Webcam' - is back in action. The VMC is mounted on Mars Express, ESA's deep-space probe now orbiting the Red Planet. It originally provided simple, low-tech images of Beagle lander separation, and is now back in action as the 'Mars Webcam'. It's not a scientific instrument, but it does provide fantastic views of Mars - including crescent views of the planet not obtainable from Earth. danielscuka 2013-02-12T08:06:15Z New VMC blog platform http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/1389 We're renovating! As the Mars Express team works to recommission the VMC camera, we're taking advantage of the pause to transfer the VMC blog to the new Wordpress platform. Effective immediately, all news, updates and information -- not to mention new VMC images -- will be published via <a href="http://blogs.esa.int/vmc" target="_blank" title="New Mars Webcam blog">http://blogs.esa.int/vmc</a>. For now, the VMC image archives will remain searchable and available via this site; if we transfer them anywhere, we'll let you know.   <div style="text-align: center"> <a href="http://blogs.esa.int/vmc" target="_blank"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/vmc_blog_thumb.png" border="1" alt="New Mars Webcam blog" align="middle" /></a> </div>       General About us 2012-05-23T11:22:18Z danielscuka An elegant solution - update in ESA web http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/1384 Some nice news today for VMC fans: the teams at ESOC are getting closer to restoring the VMC back to operation. Imaging stopped, of course, with last autumn's anomaly, the solution of which has kept everyone in the MEX family fully occupied for several months. VMC, being last priority, was not worked on. But we're hopeful that we'll get a solution soon, and we'll post news here as soon as we hear anything. References to our very own VMC camera activities highlighted - and note very nice comments on teamwork! Click link to read the full report. <blockquote> While full science operations have now been resumed, a number of tasks remain to be completed. Most important among these is the implementation of an OBCP scheduler. This will enable the spacecraft to operate autonomously for up to a week, compared to the few days that are possible with the current FAST system. Work is also in hand to resume operation of the Visual Monitoring Camera (<a href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/index.php?blogId=6" target="_blank">VMC – the 'Mars webcam'</a>). Enormous team effort Completely redesigning the way in which Mars Express is controlled has involved an enormous amount of work for the mission control team at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), assisted by their counterparts at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), PI-teams, other ESA experts and partners in industry. Everyone involved with the mission is extremely grateful for their hard work. Although the 'Express' in Mars Express highlights that the mission was developed in a short time and with a relatively modest budget, the ability to resume full operations after a very serious failure shows that the resulting design is both robust and flexible. Mars Express has now been restored to full operational capability and its potential mission lifetime remains unchanged </blockquote> <a href="http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=50026" target="_blank" title="An elegant solution">Full report via ESA Science & Technology</a> General About us Science 2012-02-16T10:20:07Z danielscuka Mars Webcam presentation at IAC Prague 2010 http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/1270 <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/to_iac2010.png" align="left" />Our colleague Thomas Ormston, who leads VMC activities for the Mars Express team here at ESOC, recently presented a paper at the 61st International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Prague, Czech Republic. The paper, "An Ordinary Camera In An Extraordinary Location: Outreach With The Mars Webcam," covered the history of the VMC project and provided details on camera operations and our results to date in publishing results to this blog. It also described the outreach successes of the project, highlighted some of the contributions from the Mars Webcam community, explained opportunities to use and work with the Mars Webcam and plans for future camera activities. The paper was the product of a joint effort and made use of input from the entire Mars Express team (thanks guys!) - it's an excellent review of VMC activities to date. <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/esaops/an-ordinary-camera-in-an-extraordinary-location-outreach-with-the-mars-webcam" target="_blank">You can access a copy in SlideShare.net</a> or click on 'Full story' below. We'd like to thank everyone who attended Thomas' presentation at IAC and, in particular, we'd like to give a big shout out to <a href="http://bethbeck.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/prague-highlights" target="_blank">Beth Beck, who posted the following note in her blog</a>: <blockquote> "My fav presentation was European Space Agency's Mars WebCam project. You'll just have to check it out. The best example of 'participatory exploration' that I've seen. They turned an unused mission camera back on to take photos of Mars. They offer the data to the public to process. The Mars WebCam folks post the "processed" images back on their site. Quite wonderful. They've created an amazing, enthusiastic community of Mars-watchers, who participate in the mission voluntarily with hundreds of hours of processing time to their credit." </blockquote> Thanks, Beth, for your kind words! -- Daniel Our IAC 2010 paper:   <iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="560" scrolling="no" src="http://download.esa.int/esoc/9.html" width="100%"></iframe> General About us 2010-10-08T00:18:59Z danielscuka Promoting the Mars Webcam in Germany http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/1265 <a href="http://twitpic.com/2p954j" title="J. Landeau-Constantin explains the VMC outreach project - htt... on Twitpic"><img src="http://twitpic.com/show/thumb/2p954j.jpg" alt="J. Landeau-Constantin explains the VMC outreach project - htt... on Twitpic" width="150" height="150" align="left" /></a> ESA's J. Landeau-Constantin, Head of the EAC/ESOC Corporate Communication Office, explains the VMC (Mars Webcam) outreach project (that's us!) at today's "<a href="http://www.mpia.de/homes/jaeger/index.htm" target="_blank">Public Outreach in Astronomy</a>" workshop, part of the annual meeting of the <a href="http://www.astro.rub.de/ag/index_eng.html">German astronomy societies in Bonn</a>. In the image, M. Pössel chairs, while G. Schönherr works on her talk about the IYA in Germany. Twitpic credit: Daniel Fischer (<a href="http://twitpic.com/photos/cosmos4u" target="_blank">cosmos4u</a>) -- Daniel       General About us 2010-09-17T15:01:03Z danielscuka About the Mars Webcam http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/482 The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) is mounted on Mars Express, ESA's deep-space probe now orbiting the Red Planet. It originally provided simple, low-tech photos of the Beagle lander separation, and is now back in action as the 'Mars Webcam'. It's not a scientific instrument, but it does provide fantastic images of Mars - including crescent views of the planet not obtainable from Earth. <hr width="100%" size="2" /> Mars Express has been in orbit around Mars since December 2003. The mission comprised two spacecraft – the Mars Express orbiter and the Beagle 2 lander. To verify the correct separation and trajectory of the lander, the VMC (Visual Monitoring Camera) - a basic optical monitoring camera - was installed on the orbiter to image the retreating Beagle, which was successfully done in December 2003 (unfortunately, Beagle was later declared lost). This was the only use of the VMC camera prior to 2007. <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/MEX_VMC_Beagle2_separation_400x125.jpg" alt="Beagle 2 during separation, 19 Dec 2003 The bright spot on the left-hand side of this picture is the back side of Beagle 2, slowly drifting away from Mars Express. This image, taken 9:33 CET, 19 December 2003, shows the Beagle 2 lander when it was about 20 metres away from Mars Express, enroute to a surface landing on Mars. Beagle 2 was subsequently lost. Credits: ESA" align="left" /> Beagle 2 during separation, 19 December 2003 The bright spot on the left-hand side of this picture is the back side of Beagle 2, slowly drifting away from Mars Express. This image, taken 9:33 CET, 19 December 2003, shows the Beagle 2 lander when it was about 20 metres away from Mars Express, enroute to a surface landing on Mars. Beagle 2 was subsequently lost. Credit: ESA It seemed somehow inappropriate that the photographic capabilities of the VMC - an excellent, if modest, camera - should remain forever dormant. Due to the camera's unique location, it could, for example, capture crescent images of Mars that are not obtainable from Earth. VMC's wide field of view also provides global images of Mars - something that is not currently provided by any other spacecraft.      VMC back in action   In 2007, the Mars Express Flight Control Team based at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany, began a test campaign to see whether the camera could be used to image Mars. <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/vmc.PNG" width="400" height="265" align="left" />It wasn't even known if the camera would function at all after over three years of inactivity in deep space. Photograph of the VMC's IRIS-1 system. This shows the IRIS-1 "camera on a chip" system and power support internals of the VMC camera before application of the housing. Credits: ESA But the VMC did, indeed, come back to life and the results to date have been very encouraging. Throughout 2007, the team ran a test campaign to verify the camera's capabilities, followed by fine-tuning to find the optimal parameters for Mars imaging. The task was made more challenging due to long periods, particularly during eclipse season, when on-board memory, downlink slots or command uplink time weren't available due to higher priority demands. 'Mars Webcam' now in routine operation   October and November 2007 saw the first regular operations, with observations occurring approximately every three days. VMC observations are now routinely inserted into the Mars Express planning cycle, on a strict non-interference, time-available basis with respect to formal payload activities. VMC activities are unique in that the camera is operated by the Flight Control Team, and not a team of scientists. This gives operations engineers, particularly junior members, a chance to learn and practise command generation, planning, and other skills normally done at the Science Operations Centre.   Trial-and-error to fine-tune image sets   To be sure, many of the early photos returned from the VMC showed only the inky blackness of space; the humble camera's resolution is too low to show even any interesting stars and it has no pointing control (other than to rotate the spacecraft itself). <div align="right"> <a id="res_571" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/07-028_214852_27_large.png"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/previews/07-028_214852_27_large.png" border="0" alt="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 Credits: ESA" align="left" /></a> </div> Also, there is no focus adjustment and only basic exposure controls, so many images have come back blurry and greatly over- or under-exposed. 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. Credits: ESA Nonetheless, the team persevered and, through trial-and-error as well as lots of self-taught research, have learnt how to operate the camera to at least some good effect - good enough, finally, that the image sets can be shared via the Web. Regular updates from Mars Webcam In the future, images from the VMC - nicknamed the 'Mars Webcam' - will be made available online as soon as possible and whenever we have something worth showing - and on the understanding that the VMC project is strictly a low-priority, "as available" activity. The Mars Express team hope that you'll enjoy these images - and furthermore, we need your help!   Open invitation for image feedback   You can assist the Mars Express team with additional processing of the raw image data files as well as interpretation: What do you see? What part of the Mars surface is being shown? Can you identify any geographical features? What regions of the atmosphere or atmospheric components do you see? We would be delighted to receive copies of any good results that you get - either processed images or interpretations (see '<a href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/487" title="Submit your pics">Submit your pics</a>' for details) - and we hope you'll allow us to publish the best submissions.   Share our passion for space   The 'Mars Webcam' provides a visual connection to what we do here on ESA's operations teams every day of the year - it's a chance for us to share our passion for space! VMC images are just simple photos gathered by one ordinary camera - but it's a camera mounted on a spacecraft orbiting one of the solar system's most exciting planets, millions of km from home! <a id="res_21131" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/VMCLocation.png"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/previews-med/VMCLocation.gif" border="1" align="left" /></a> A diagramme showing the VMC's field of view and mounting location on the top of Mars Express. As can be seen, the camera is located very close to where Beagle was attached such that the lander filled almost the entire field of view prior to release.                             <div align="left"> </div>   About us 2009-02-01T20:19:48Z danielscuka FAQ http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/488 FAQ developed by the VMC team at ESOC. Please read below before contacting us, as we will regularly update responses to the most common questions here. Scroll down for general specifications and contact information; the links on the right give more technical information about the VMC and its use and history on Mars Express. 1. What is the 'VMC'?   The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) is carried on Mars Express, as well as several other ESA spacecraft, including Cluster, XMM-Newton and Herschel-Planck. On Mars Express, its formal role was to image the separation of the Beagle 2 lander, a one-time event in 2003. The camera was dormant between 2003 and 2007. <a id="res_579" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/vmc_box_type_large.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/previews/vmc_box_type_large.jpg" border="0" alt="Box-type VMC camera similar to the one carried on Mars Express. Credit: OIP N.V., Belgium" align="left" /></a>The VMC consists of a small CMOS-based optical camera, which can be fitted with an on-pixel RGB colour filter for colour images. The camera has a basic command interface that can be operated by ground controllers at ESOC; it does not offer advanced features such as updateable software as found on other instruments. Box-type VMC camera similar to the one carried on Mars Express The VMC really is just a regular 'web cam' such as found attached to any home PC, except it is specially qualified to function in the space environment.   2. Who operates the VMC?   The VMC is operated by the Mars Express Flight Control Team, based at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany. This activity is conducted on a 'best-effort, last-priority' basis given the availability of planning time, command upload time and data down-link capacity. This is a unique situation, as Flight Control Teams for ESA missions usually do not 'operate' payload instruments; this is done by dedicated, specialised science teams. But the VMC is different: it had a purely operational purpose (successfully completed in 2003 with Beagle's separation) and as such it is not operated by scientists, but by flight controllers.   3. What format are the images we get from the VMC?   The camera produces a 640x480-pixel array of 8-bit intensity samples. These are received in the Mars Express Dedicated Control Room (DCR) as binary packets from the spacecraft. From these, ESOC software extracts the raw image binary files from the packets and performs a direct conversion of that data into the PNG files published on the website. <a id="res_578" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/VMC_Bayer_Pattern.png"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/previews/VMC_Bayer_Pattern.png" border="0" alt="The original VMC image files contain colour information in the form of a Bayer pattern RGB filter. The colour information can be seen on every image as a grid-like overlay - the classic form of a Bayer filter." align="right" /></a> Within each raw image are 307,200 pixels of 8 bits each (640 lines of 480 pixels). The binary file stores each pixel as an unsigned integer representing a value between 0 (black) and 255 (white). The pixels are organised with the top left pixel of the image being at the start of the binary file, then running through the image line by line from left to right of each line. Note that the original image files contain colour information in the form of a Bayer pattern RGB filter, but the Flight Control Team do not have the spare capacity (or software) to conduct colour processing; we only generate black & white images. The colour information can be seen on every image as a grid-like overlay - the classic form of a Bayer filter. The original VMC image files contain colour information in the form of a Bayer pattern RGB filter. The colour information can be seen on every image as a grid-like overlay - the classic form of a Bayer filter.   4. Why are some of the VMC images so blurry or otherwise of low quality?   Actually, they are of rather good quality - as is the camera itself - given the original intended usage. The VMC is not a scientific instrument per se and it was designed for relatively low-resolution, fixed-focus operation. Its images should therefore not be compared to those coming from other Mars Express instruments.   <a id="res_577" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/07-152_014330_01_artefacts,0.png"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/previews/07-152_014330_01_artefacts,0.png" border="0" alt="Mars Express 07-152 01.43.30 VMC Img No 1.png Sunburst at Mars (VMC artefacts indicated) The red boxes indicate artefacts introduced into the image by the VMC itself; some are fixed and some are intermittent. Intermittent artefacts are introduced by software or hardware faults while fixed artefacts may stem from debris having scratched the camera optics. 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 Credits: ESA" align="left" /></a>Further, since the camera was reactivated in 2007, at least two regions of artefacts now appear in all images (which may have been caused by debris scratching or being deposited upon the optics), and other artefacts intermittently appear. The Mars Express Flight Control Team are still learning which exposure settings give the best results for any particular imaging series; illumination conditions and pointings vary dynamically from one orbit to the next.   5. Why do the last few images sets posted look the same?   They do look similar, but certainly not the same! This is to do with the orbit of Mars around the Sun and the evolution of the Mars Express orbit around Mars. The angles between the Sun, Mars and the spacecraft therefore vary gradually over the whole Martian year (two Earth years). This means that for a period of days or weeks the lighting on Mars and the phase (like we see phases of the Moon from Earth) stays quite similar, so the image looks similar. If you look closer at the surface, or at the pattern of clouds above it you'll see that each image is a unique view of Mars. If you look back through the archive you'll see the broader change in the images evolving over weeks and months. 6. Where was Mars Express when each image was taken?   Most VMC images are captured close to apocentre, at around 10,000 km from Mars (this is due to a constraint preventing operation with other Mars Express instruments). See <a href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/487">Help us with the VMC</a> for more details. 7. How often are images taken? The images are taken in batches, called observations. The amount of images in an observation varies depending on the available time for VMC activities. VMC images are captured at just under one per minute. These observations take place as often as possible, but this can vary widely. Sometimes we'll get image sets daily, and other times there may be only one new set in a month. VMC activities are last-priority and often must be delayed due to higher priority activities. Check the site often! 8. How long after an image is taken does it get posted? This depends a lot on how much spare time the spacecraft has after sending all the primary Mars Express science data to Earth. After VMC pictures are taken they are stored in memory on the spacecraft and wait there to be sent back to Earth at the earliest free opportunity. The time waiting on board can vary from less than an hour to more than a week. Once the images get a free slot the spacecraft sends them to Earth on a journey that takes the data between 4 and 22 minutes (depending on the position of Earth and Mars). They then arrive at a ground station and are sent to the spacecraft control centre, <a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESOC/index.html" target="_blank" title="European Space Operations Centre">ESOC</a>, where an automated tool picks up the images and posts them to the blog.   9. How can I help?   If you are a student, teacher, professor, scientist, photographer or a Mars fan of any age, we can use your help! Since the VMC is operated on a best-effort basis, we would be delighted to have help from the general public with processing the images, removing artefacts, increasing sharpness and interpreting the images. Please see <a href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/487">Help us with the VMC</a> for more details.   Questions?   Post a question to use below - we'll get back to you as soon as possible. <hr width="100%" size="2" /> VMC specifications   Lens <blockquote> <div> Focal length: 12.3mm F-Number: 5 Elements: 5 (1 BK7G18 infrared filter, 3 Suprasil lenses, 1 Suprasil detector window) Focus: Fixed, sharp from 3 m to infinity Distortion: <0.4% Total Transmission (including filters): 0.745 Field of View: 40 x 31 degrees Wavelength range: 400-650 nm Diffraction spot size: 9 µm </div> </blockquote> Sensor <blockquote> Sensor Type: IMEC IRIS-1 integrating CMOS APS Colour: Bayer pattern RGB filter on chip Image size: 640x480 pixels Shutter: Electronic Sensor size: 10x8 mm Pixel depth: 8 bits Individual pixel size: 14 µm Spectral response: 400-900 nm Signal-to-Noise ratio: 65 dB Image acquisition duration: 200 ms + exposure time </blockquote> Unit <blockquote> Size: 65x60x108 mm Mass: 430 g Operating temperature: -50 degrees to +65 degrees VMC internal image buffer capacity: 1 full VMC image Image transfer duration (to Mars Express mass memory): 38s Power input: 28 V Power consumption: 2.8 W average, 5 W peak Interface to spacecraft: serial </blockquote> About us 2009-02-01T14:58:24Z danielscuka About this blog http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/485 Welcome to the Mars Express Visual Monitoring Camera Blog! This blog is operated by ESA - the European Space Agency - as an unofficial and in-depth source of information for the general public (important information and disclaimer). The 'Mars Webcam Blog' is updated by editors from the ESA Web team with input from mission controllers, engineers, scientists and senior managers at ESA and our partners working at ESOC (the European Space Operations Centre), Darmstadt, Germany, and other facilities. The team here will certainly do their best to get you the best information possible, as soon as possible! Nonetheless, the Mars Express Visual Monitoring Camera Blog is provided strictly on an unofficial, 'best-effort' basis and ESA makes no warranty that the comments, opinions or information expressed in this blog are confirmed, accurate, official or in any way reflect the formal policies of the European Space Agency. For the latest confirmed information relating to any ESA activity, do not hesitate to check the main <a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank" title="ESA home">ESA Web portal</a> (<a href="http://www.esa.int" target="_blank" title="ESA home">http://www.esa.int</a>) or contact one of our media and public information offices. Public comments We welcome your comments, feedback and questions - you'll find the comment box at the foot of every blog post item. We'll do our best to answer your questions within a reasonable amount of time. Off-topic comments will be deleted. About us 2009-02-01T10:42:56Z danielscuka The Editors http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/6/484 We asked the team working on the Mars Webcam Blog to introduce themselves.  Here are brief self-introduction from our Mars Webcam Blog editors, Daniel Scuka and Thomas Ormston. Daniel and Thomas work on behalf of the Agency for EJR-Quartz BV and VEGA Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, respectively.   Daniel Scuka <a id="res_5071" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/5071-daniel_scuka_esoc.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/previews/5071-daniel_scuka_esoc.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo of Daniel Scuka" align="left" /></a>Originally from Toronto, Canada, Daniel Scuka has worked as Web editor at ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, since 2004. As part of the ESA Web portal team, he reports on spacecraft operations and covers activities at ESOC and other ESA establishments. He previously blogged for ESA for the Rosetta Earth swing-by and Steins fly-by in November 2007 and September 2008, respectively, the Columbus delivery mission in February 2008 and the ATV launch and docking in March & April 2008. Daniel has led the creation of the original VMC Mars Webcam site and its transition to the blog format. He's responsible for maintaining the VMC blog and moderating it along with Thomas.   Thomas Ormston <a id="res_5073" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/thomas_ormston_esoc.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/6/previews/thomas_ormston_esoc.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo of Thomas Ormston" align="left" /></a>Thomas' hometown is Winchester, United Kingdom. He came to ESA after finishing a master's degree in physics and space research at the University of Birmingham. He started at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany, with ESA's Young Graduate Trainee scheme in 2005, continuing afterwards as a contractor. Throughout this time he's been a Spacecraft Operations Engineer on Mars Express and is mainly responsible for monitoring the health of the satellite's power and telecommunications systems. For the Mars Webcam, Thomas led the project to bring the VMC back into service in 2007 and now coordinates the camera's activities. He takes care of planning VMC observations and posting the resulting images here on the blog. He'll also deal with any technical issues or questions relating to VMC. About us 2009-02-01T10:41:05Z danielscuka