Mars Express Blog

Mars Express Blog http://webservices.esa.int/blog/blog/7 Mars Express is Europe’s first planetary mission. At launch, the mission consisted of an orbiter carrying seven instruments for remote sensing observations of the planet, and a lander (Beagle 2) for on-the-spot measurements of Martian rock and soil. Mars Express started science observations at the Red Planet in January 2004, and since then it has been delivering an incredible amount of scientific results. The ‘Express’ part of the name highlights the fact that the spacecraft was built more quickly than any other comparable planetary mission. In fact, it took only five years from mission approval to launch. In addition to global studies of the surface, subsurface and atmosphere of Mars with unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution, the unifying theme of the Mars Express mission from orbit is the search for water in its various states, everywhere on the planet by all its seven instruments using different techniques. danielscuka 2012-02-10T09:58:49Z Orcus Patera on Mars: What's in the crater? http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1379 A nice New Year's post starting the year with a question (and answer!) on the fabulous high resolution stereo camera (HRSC) image of Orcus Patera, first published by ESA (<a href="http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMDV9BO3DG_index_0.html" target="_blank">here</a>) in 2010, and reposted as the <a href="http://www.marstravel.org/2011/12/mars-photo-of-day-dec-31-2011.html" target="_blank">Image of the Day on 31 December 2011 at the Mars Travel blog</a>. Best wishes to everyone for a healthy and successful 2012. Details below! -- Daniel First, here's the image (click image to access the original post in ESA web):   <div style="text-align: center"> <a href="http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMDV9BO3DG_index_0.html" target="_blank" title="Original image via ESA web"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/472-20103007-2216-2238-6-co-01-OrcusPatera_300.jpg" border="1" alt="Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression located between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons. This well-defined depression extends approximately 380 km by 140 km in a NNE–SSW direction. It has a rim that rises up to 1800 m above the surrounding plains, while the floor of the depression lies 400–600 m below the surroundings. The term ‘patera’ is used for deep, complex or irregularly shaped volcanic craters such as the Hadriaca Patera and Tyrrhena Patera at the north-eastern margin of the Hellas impact basin. However, despite its name and the fact that it is positioned near volcanoes, the actual origin of Orcus Patera remains unclear.Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)" align="middle" /></a> </div>   <a href="http://download.esa.int/images/marsexpress/472-20103007-2216-2238-6-co-01-OrcusPatera_H1.jpg" target="_blank">Click for hi-res version </a> Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression near Mars’s equator, in the eastern hemisphere of the planet. Located between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons, its formation remains a mystery. Often overlooked, this well-defined depression extends approximately 380 km by 140 km in a NNE–SSW direction. It has a rim that rises up to 1800 m above the surrounding plains, while the floor of the depression lies 400–600 m below the surroundings. Earlier today, Mars Travel blogger David Geaney sent in a question:  <blockquote> If you look at one of the central craters in Orcus Patera using the HRSC image, you will see there is something blue in the crater. What is the blue material? Thank you for your time and patience. </blockquote> We passed the query to Mars Express project scientist Olivier Witasse, who wrote: Hi David, The blue is not a lake.... It's dust, which emits in the blue part of the spectrum. In the data processing, the blue part is somewhat enhanced, which sometimes creates a wrong impression. Cheers, --Olivier     General Science 2012-01-02T14:30:46Z danielscuka MARSIS completes measurement campaign over Martian North Pole http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1378 <a id="res_21113" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/MARSIS2800_H_saup_410.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/previews/MARSIS2800_H_saup_410.gif" border="0" alt="Mars Express in orbit around Mars with the MARSIS antennae unfurled Date: 09 Dec 2011 Satellite: Mars Express Copyright: ESA This artist's illustration depicts Mars Express in orbit around Mars with the MARSIS antennas unfurled. The MARSIS experiment maps the Martian subsurface structure to a depth of a few kilometres." align="left" /></a>A comment today from Mars Express Spacecraft Operations Manager Michel Denis on this week's report: "<a href="http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=49771" target="_blank">MARSIS completes measurement campaign over Martian North Pole</a>." The report gives good news! "The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on board Mars Express has recently completed a subsurface sounding campaign over the planet's North Pole. The campaign was interrupted by the suspension of science observations several times between August and October due to safe modes and to anomalies in the operation of the spacecraft's Solid-State Mass Memory (SSMM) system. As MARSIS best observes in the dark, which for the North Pole only occurs every few years, it was among the first instruments to resume observations once a partial work-around for the problems had been implemented." In his comment below, the 'FAST Method' that Michel refers to is the operations team's newly developed way of uploading commands to Mars Express, which avoids using the problematic Solid State Mass Memory (SSMM) for critical commanding. The 'File-based Activities on Short Timeline' method essentially means that commands are grouped in very short self-contained files that can be loaded safely, in advance of execution, from the SSMM into an alternative memory unit (that is reliable but not as capacious as the SSMM). Michel writes: <blockquote> The FAST method - loading short command files upon need into the short onboard mission timeline - was put into use at the end of October 2011 with the (excellent) result that we could save what was remaining of the North Pole observation campaign by the MARSIS radar. The net loss in data collection was mitigated by using the existing MARSIS command sequences as soon as possible. Meanwhile, as for the other instruments, new MARSIS on-board control procedures (OBCPs) are under development and will allow operation with fewer commands, therefore enabling the operation of several science instruments in parallel. My main point? We did our job: contrary to widespread received wisdom, the spacecraft operators' role is not to simply watch over (supposedly) boring routine operations during the many long years of a mission - nor simply saving a spacecraft that experiences problems. In fact, we are relied upon to deliver safely as much of the expected (precious) scientific data as possible within the resources available - despite adversity. And that's what we're doing! </blockquote> General Science Operations Recovery 2011-12-16T15:19:24Z danielscuka ASPERA switch-on success :-) http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1376 This in this morning from Jonathan Schulster on the Mars Express operations team: <blockquote> The ASPERA (Energetic Neutral Atoms Analyser) instrument high voltage (kV) lines and equipment were successfully switched on today, a few minutes ago at Mars (~09:57 CET), using the new on-board control procedures (OBCP). These will run for one hour until 10:40CET today and the ASPERA science team will examine the recorded science data before giving the 'go-ahead' for full operations of ASPERA using only OBCP's starting 9 Jan uary 2012. Cheers! - Jonathan Schulster Mars Express Mission Planning & Flight Control Team </blockquote> Looks like another instrument is set to return to action! -- Daniel General Science Operations Recovery 2011-12-13T14:11:04Z danielscuka Mars Express steadily returns to routine operation http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1374 <a id="res_11608" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/mars_express_in_orbit_400.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/previews/mars_express_in_orbit_400.gif" border="0" align="left" /></a>Mission controllers are making excellent progress in returning Mars Express to routine service. Some science activities have already resumed after being temporarily suspended last month following a series of faults related to the onboard data storage system.   Having arrived around Mars in December 2003 for an initial two-year mission, the spacecraft is now in its eighth year of science operations. It has returned some of the most stunning images and valuable science data ever obtained from the Red Planet. In mid-October 2011, anomalies in the operation of its Solid-State Mass Memory (SSMM) system caused science observations to be temporarily halted. <a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEMYN9ZW5VG_0.html" target="_blank" title="Mars Express returns to service">Full story via ESA web</a> General Science Operations 2011-11-24T17:31:33Z danielscuka Mars Express observations temporarily suspended http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1373 Anomalies in the operation of the solid-state mass memory system on board Mars Express have caused science observations to be temporarily halted. A technical work-around is being investigated that will enable the resumption of a number of observations and should evolve into a long-term solution. In mid-August, Mars Express autonomously entered safe mode, an operational mode designed to safeguard both the spacecraft itself and its instrument payload in the event of faults or errors. The cause of entering the safe mode was a complex combination of events relating to reading from and writing to memory modules in the Solid-State Mass Memory (SSMM) system. This is used to store data acquired by the instruments and housekeeping data from the spacecraft's subsystems, prior to its transmission to Earth, and is also used to store commands for the spacecraft that have been received from the ground stations, while awaiting execution. <a href="http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=49549" target="_blank" title="ESA RSSD Site">More details in ESA's Science & Technology site</a>. General Science Operations 2011-10-31T11:36:14Z danielscuka Phobos slips past Jupiter http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1349 <a id="res_20358" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/004-2-20110610-9463-Phobos-GeomericalRelationship_H1.jpg"> <div style="text-align: center"> <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/previews-med/004-2-20110610-9463-Phobos-GeomericalRelationship_H1.gif" border="0" alt="The trajectories of Phobos and Mars Express at the time of the conjunction with Jupiter on 1 June 2011. The graphic was created using Celestia software. The letter ‘S’ denotes the South Pole of Mars. Credit: ESA" /> </div> </a>Earlier this month, ESA’s Mars Express performed a special manoeuvre to observe an unusual alignment of Jupiter and the martian moon Phobos. The impressive images have now been processed into a movie of this rare event.   At the moment when Mars Express, Phobos, and Jupiter aligned on 1 June 2011, there was a distance of 11 389 km between the spacecraft and Phobos, and a further 529 million km to Jupiter. <a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEMJ53E1XOG_0.html" target="_blank">Full article via ESA</a>. General Orbits Science Operations 2011-06-17T18:44:44Z danielscuka Mars Express features in top 10 listing http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1331 A nice wrap-up on Mars Express achievements today! Mars Express Spacecraft Operations Manager Michel Denis sent in anote pointing out that, according to ScienceWatch.com, in the 'Top 10 papers on planetary science of the last 10 years', the most-cited papers (5 out of 10) are from Mars Express data and scientists (ranking 1, 2, 4, 6 and 9). In the same list, quite a number of papers are Cassini- and <a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html" target="_blank" title="ESA Cassini-Huygens">Huygens</a>-related. Full details via: <a href="http://www.sciencewatch.com/ana/st/planet/papers10yr/" target="_blank" title="ScienceWatch">http://www.sciencewatch.com</a>. As Michel mentions, this is a nice continuation of the '<a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/site/special/insights2010/" target="_blank">Top 10 Science Insights of the Decade</a>' in the magazine Science (December 2010) where, with all sciences together, 'Wate on Mars' appears as one of the ten (with Mars Express mentioned by name!). -- Daniel General Science 2011-05-11T12:07:34Z danielscuka Phobos morphing animation by Dan Brennen http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1321 A few days ago, Dan Brennen, of Elk Grove, California, posted a very nice animation in the <a href="http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=480&hl=phobos&st=210" target="_blank">UnmannedSpaceflight.com forums</a> and we are delighted to share this below. Dan sent us a description: <blockquote> The animation was created using the sequence of 5 images <a href="http://download.esa.int/esoc/phobos/image5-492-20110120-8974-sequence-05-PhobosFlyby.tif" target="_blank">located here</a> which were scaled down to 1/5 size. A simple morphing program was utilized to create the intermediate images which allow for the appearance of motion. Approximately 30 control points were identified to tell the program where the limb had changed shape and key features on Phobos had moved between images. Each transition from one image to the next contained 200 steps, which was later compressed to 8 frames per second to create the final image file. I'm sure you can guess that the quality would improved with more control points and more precise placement of those control points. But it's quite time consuming, especially with five images. So I did this with less time and effort in order to quickly create an interesting feature for our forum in just an hour or two while I had my Saturday morning coffee. </blockquote>  Thanks, Dan, for some great work! -- Daniel    <a href="http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=23695" target="_blank"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/phobos_morph11.gif" alt="Animation of Phobos flyby 9 January 2011. Original images Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum). Animation credit: Dan Brennan, Elk Grove, California" /></a> Original animation via <a href="http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=480&hl=phobos&st=210" target="_blank">UnMannedSpaceFlight.com</a> Original HRSC images: Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum). Animation credit: Dan Brennan, Elk Grove, California     General Science Phobos Fly-by 2011 2011-01-25T17:58:05Z danielscuka Mars Express' January 2011 Phobos images show how camera works http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1320 <a id="res_12158" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/HRSClarge.jpg"> <div style="text-align: center"> <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/previews-med/HRSClarge.gif" border="0" alt="High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC):: The HRSC on board ESA's Mars Express will image the entire planet in full colour, 3D and with a resolution of about 10 metres. Selected areas will be imaged at 2-metre resolution. One of the camera's greatest strengths will be the unprecedented pointing accuracy achieved by combining images at the two different resolutions. The Camera Head is the light grey unit in the middle and the top rectangular aperture. The Super Resolution Channel (SRC) is the black cylindrical aperture at lower right. The Camera Head and SRC together measure 515 x 300 x 260 mm. The Digital Unit is the black box at the back. The complete HRSC weighs 20.4 kilograms and consumes about 48.7 Watts with both camera and SRC working. Credits: DLR/FU Berlin/ESA 2003" /> </div> </a>Emily Lakdawalla over at the <a href="http://planetary.org/blog" target="_blank">Planetary Society Blog</a> has posted a very detailed explanation of how the Mars Express High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) works, with some very informative examples and descriptions from this month's Phobos flyby. Emily writes: <blockquote> But what I think is best about this particular set of images is that they serve as really great illustrations of how HRSC works. It's an unusual instrument: a pushbroom camera that acquires simultaneous stereo and color data with a higher-resolution framing camera bolted to it. If you don't understand what that preceding sentence means, bear with me; I'll explain. </blockquote> Access Emily's full post in <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002888/" target="_blank">The Planetary Society Blog</a>.    General Science Phobos Fly-by 2011 2011-01-25T11:45:11Z danielscuka NASA APOD: Mars Express views Phobos! http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/7/1319 The team here were delighted to see that the Mars Express HRSC image of Phobos had been selected as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) yesterday! Thanks guys! Click on the image below to access the APOD site --> and scroll down and click on the link to vote for APOD's '<a href="http://bb.nightskylive.net/asterisk/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=22695" target="_blank">Astronomy Picture of the Year 2010</a>'. -- Daniel <a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110124.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/7/esa_Mars_express_phobos_nasa_apod.gif" alt="Phobos' South Pole from Mars Express. Credit & Copyright: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) - posted as NASA APOD on 24 January 2011 via: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110124.html" /></a> General Science Phobos Fly-by 2011 2011-01-25T11:29:40Z danielscuka