The Mars Express spacecraft has returned stunning images of mountains and valleys that show signs of past volcanic activity, and suggest that glaciers once shaped the red planet’s surface. The pictures from Mars Express show the western end of the Valles Marineris canyon system, which stretches for about 4,000 kilometres close to the martian equator. In places, the main canyon is 10 kilometres deep, more than six times as deep as the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) has now photographed this area in more detail than ever before, picking out features as small as 50 metres across
November 2nd, 2004
Lack of cash blamed for Beagle 2 failure The Daily Telegraph
The loss of Britain’s Beagle 2 project can be traced to the Government wanting a Mars lander “on the cheap”, and tensions with the European Space Agency, MPs said yesterday. Previous reports have highlighted the possible technical reasons for the failure of the
October 8th, 2004
Mars Express ‘divining rod’ mission delayed New Scientist
A spindly radar antenna – which could discover underground water on Mars – will now not deploy on Europe’s Mars Express spacecraft until at least March 2005, say mission scientists. That represents about a year’s delay for the experiment, which has been postponed repeatedly over concerns that the 40-metre-long antenna could smack into the spacecraft on deployment.
October 8th, 2004
Does Mars Methane Indicate Life Underground? National Geographic News
Data obtained by the Mars Express probe that is currently orbiting the red planet show that water vapor and methane gas are concentrated in the same regions of the Martian atmosphere, the European Space Agency recently announced. The finding may have important implications for the possibility that microbial life could exist on Mars. If microbes are making methane in the Martian atmosphere as part of their living process, they would rely on water.
October 5th, 2004
The grabens of Claritas Fossae
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA
September 29th, 2004
Conjunction over, engineers wake Mars Express
For mission controllers, a solar conjunction means that a spacecraft, the Sun and Earth are in alignment. Yesterday, engineers successfully woke up ESA’s Mars Express from a lengthy and long-planned ‘nap’ as it travelled out of a conjunction, avoiding potential communications interference from the Sun.
September 28th, 2004
Methane on Mars causes controversy New Scientist
Methane and water vapour are concentrated in the same regions of the Martian atmosphere, say scientists studying data from Europe’s Mars Express orbiter. They say the link may point to a common source – possibly life – but others remain sceptical about the detection.
September 10th, 2004
Solis Planum, Thaumasia region
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA
August 24th, 2004
Crater dunes in Argyre Planitia
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show a Martian crater with a dune field on its floor. In arid zones on Earth, these features are called