Tag Archives: Mars Express

HRSC: Comet Siding Spring

Posted on November 4, 2014 by rburnham

Comet Siding Spring came extraordinarily close to Mars as it whizzed by on 19 October 2014. The celestial body – a mere 500 metres in diameter – passed the Red Planet at a distance of just 137 000 kilometres, where it … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Chaos in Atlantis basin

Posted on October 27, 2014 by rburnham

Mars is peppered with craters. Scientists have deduced that the red planet is struck by around 200 meteoroids every year that dig out new craters. While some small craters are fresh, Mars has a great many that are much larger … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Flight over chaotic terrain

Posted on October 20, 2014 by rburnham

Among the most interesting landforms on Mars are features referred to as ‘chaotic terrain’. Dozens or even hundreds of isolated mountains up to 2,000 m high are scattered in these extensive regions. Seen from orbit, they form a bizarre, chaotic … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Hooke Crater in Argyre basin

Posted on September 19, 2014 by rburnham

Hooke Crater is located near the northern edge of the 1800 km-wide Argyre basin, one of the most impressive impact structures on Mars, excavated in a giant collision about 4 billion years ago. Sitting in a flat part of the … Continue reading →

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Results of NASA Senior Review of Mars missions

Posted on September 3, 2014 by rburnham

The results of the 2014 Senior Review of ongoing major missions by NASA are given above. The table and the comments below are taken from the Senior Review Report (PDF), available at the website of the Planetary Science Subcommittee of … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Craters within the Hellas basin

Posted on August 18, 2014 by rburnham

Scarring the southern highlands of Mars is one of the Solar System’s largest impact basins: Hellas, with a diameter of 2300 km and a depth of over 7 km. Hellas is thought to have formed between 3.8 and 4.1 billion … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Perspective view of Hellespontus Montes

Posted on July 10, 2014 by rburnham

Perspective view of Hellespontus Montes, a rocky ridge on the western rim of the vast Hellas basin in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The foreground shows a close-up of a crater with a particularly interesting feature: wrinkles that form a … Continue reading →

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Gale Crater’s icy hydrological cycle

Posted on June 25, 2014 by rburnham

Gale Crater was once home to glaciers and other features of an icy hydrological system, says a team of scientists led by Alberto Fairén (Centro de Astrobiología in Spain and Cornell University). They base their work on images captured with the … Continue reading →

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Mars atmosphere has particles in two sizes

Posted on June 24, 2014 by rburnham

A group of French and Russian scientists using data from the SPICAM ultraviolet and infrared spectrometer on the Mars Express orbiter has discovered that the dust particles in the planet’s atmosphere occur in two sizes; their results are published in … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Dune field in Rabe Crater

Posted on May 15, 2014 by rburnham

Rabe Crater is a 108 km-wide impact crater with an intricately shaped dune field. The dune material likely comprises locally eroded sediments that have been shaped by prevailing winds. Other smaller craters in the region also contain these dark deposits. … Continue reading →

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