Tag Archives: ESA

ESA: Mars sample return

The Red Planet is, for several reasons, the focus point in the international context of robotic exploration: • Mars is the most Earth-like planet in the Solar System. Geological structures show that long ago liquid water flowed on the surface … Continue reading

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HRSC: Phobos and Jupiter align

Even though it may only be a lump of porous rock, Phobos isn’t shy about hogging the limelight in this sequence taken by ESA’s Mars Express. These three images show Phobos, the larger of the two martian moons, darting across … Continue reading

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HRSC: Beauty from chaos

Beautiful streamlined islands and narrow gorges were carved by fast-flowing water pounding through a small, plateau region near the southeastern margin of the vast Valles Marineris canyon system. Images captured on 7 December 2013 by ESA’s Mars Express show the … Continue reading

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ExoMars 2018: Four landing site candidates

Some 60 scientists and engineers came together 26–28 March for the first ExoMars 2018 Landing Site Selection Workshop, held at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre near Madrid… The workshop attendees favoured four candidate sites – all of which are located … Continue reading

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Mars yard ready for Red Planet rover

A state-of-the-art ‘Mars yard’ is now ready to put the ExoMars rover through its paces before the vehicle is launched to the Red Planet in 2018. ESA, the UK Space Agency and Airbus Defence and Space opened the renovated test … Continue reading

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HRSC: Daedalia Planum closeup

Close-up view of the two dominant lava flows that reach the foot of the highland terrain (seen at the top of the image in this orientation). The older of the two eruptions produced the smooth lava surface to the south … Continue reading

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HRSC image: Flood after the impact

Large and small, hundreds of thousands of craters scar the surface of Mars, hollowed out by a multitude of asteroids and comets that impacted the Red Planet throughout its history. This image shows a region of the planet’s northern hemisphere … Continue reading

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Mars Express: 10 years at Mars

Ten years ago, on 14 January 2004, Mars Express took its very first images of Mars in colour and in 3D. To mark the occasion, the team produced a fly-through movie of the ancient flood plain Kasei Valles. The movie … Continue reading

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