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Tag Archives: ESA
HRSC: Crater named for Gerhard Neukum, Mars Express founder
A fascinating martian crater has been chosen to honour the German physicist and planetary scientist, Gerhard Neukum, one of the founders of ESA’s Mars Express mission. The International Astronomical Union named the 102 km-wide crater in the Noachis Terra region … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged DLR, dunes, ESA, European Space Agency, FU Berlin, Gerhard Neukum, High Resolution Stereo Camera, HRSC, Mars Express, MEX, Neukum Crater, Noachis Terra
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HRSC: Mars upside down
Which way is up in space? Planets are usually shown with the north pole at the top and the south pole at the bottom. In this remarkable image taken by ESA’s Mars Express, the Red Planet is seen with north … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged DLR, ESA, European Space Agency, FU Berlin, High Resolution Stereo Camera, HRSC, Mars Express, MEX, north polar region, polar regions, south polar region
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Mars atmosphere well protected from solar wind
Despite the absence of a global Earth-like magnetic dipole, the Martian atmosphere is well protected from the effects of the solar wind on ion escape from the planet. New research shows this using measurements from the Swedish particle instrument ASPERA-3 … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged ASPERA-3, atmosphere, ESA, European Space Agency, magnetosphere, Mars Express, MEX, solar wind
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Keeping up with ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
On Friday, 17 November, the flight controllers at ESOC began operations to bring the spacecraft into a new phase of the on-going aerobraking campaign, marking the start of ‘shorter’ orbits. ‘Short’ is considered, somewhat arbitrarily, as when the orbital period … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged ESA, European Space Agency, ExoMars, ExoMars 2016, Roscosmos, TGO, Trace Gas Orbiter
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Trace Gas Orbiter: Crossing Phobos’ orbit while aerobraking
[Editor’s note: See update.] Here are the facts about the Phobos orbit crossing today [November 16]. The orbit crossing is not a Phobos flyby. In fact, we did our best to ensure that Phobos would be at the farthest possible … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged aerobraking, ESA, European Space Agency, ExoMars, ExoMars 2016, Phobos, Roscosmos, TGO, Trace Gas Orbiter
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HRSC: Fracture swarms on Mars
These striking features on Mars were caused by the planet’s crust stretching apart in response to ancient volcanic activity. The fractures in the Sirenum Fossae region in the southern hemisphere were imaged by ESA’s Mars Express in March. They extend … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Arsia Mons, DLR, ESA, European Space Agency, fractures, FU Berlin, graben, High Resolution Stereo Camera, HRSC, Mars Express, MEX, Sirenum Fossae, tectonics, Tharsis
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ExoMars aerobraking becomes too severe; shifts automatically to higher orbit
ExoMars has successfully performed a Flux Reduction Manoeuvre (FRM) for the first time. The manoeuvre was triggered by the excessive density of Mars’ atmosphere, which had slowed the spacecraft above the limit the operations team normally allows. The manoeuvre happened … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged aerobraking, atmosphere, ESA, European Space Agency, ExoMars, ExoMars 2016, Roscosmos, TGO, Trace Gas Orbiter
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Mars Express webcam surveys high-altitude clouds
An unprecedented catalogue of more than 21,000 images taken by a webcam on ESA’s Mars Express is proving its worth as a science instrument, providing a global survey of unusual high-altitude cloud features on the Red Planet. The low-resolution camera … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged clouds, ESA, European Space Agency, Mars Express, Mars Webcam, MEX, Visual Monitoring Camera, VMC
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Trace Gas Orbiter: Clouds over lava flows
Diffuse, water-ice clouds, a hazy sky and a light breeze. Such might have read a weather forecast for the Tharsis volcanic region on Mars on 22 November 2016, when this image was taken by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Clouds, … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Arsia Mons, clouds, ESA, European Space Agency, ExoMars, haze, Roscosmos, TGO, Tharsis, Trace Gas Orbiter, wind streaks
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