The European Mars Express (Mex) probe has made its closest flyby of the Martian moon Phobos, passing just 67km (42 miles) from its surface. No manmade object has ever been so near to the natural satellite. The approach is one of a series being made by Mex as it seeks to understand the origin of the moon. Previous flybys have indicated that Phobos has an extremely low density, suggesting that its surface probably hides many large interior voids. Scientists suspect the moon is simply a collection of planetary rubble that coalesced around the Red Planet sometime after its formation.

A European space probe is on track for a close encounter with the Martian moon Phobos, an odd, potato-shaped satellite -- origins unknown -- that may be partly hollow. Mapping Phobos' gravity is among scientists' top priorities when the Mars Express spacecraft soars as close as 50 kilometers (31 miles) above the moon Wednesday night. Previous passes of Phobos by Mars Express have raised as many questions as they've answered. For example, calculations of the moon's density led scientists to the surprising theory that parts of Phobos may be hollow. Minute changes in the probe's flight path -- tracked by a radio signal -- as it passes over the moon Wednesday will be closely monitored in an attempt to correlate Phobos' gravitational tugs with internal structural variations.

On 3 March 2010 Mars Express will make its closest ever approach to Phobos, the larger of the two Martian moons. During a series of flybys, spanning six weeks, all seven instruments onboard Mars Express will be utilised to study Phobos. The close approach provides a first opportunity to perform a unique gravity experiment that may reveal the distribution of mass within this intriguing moon.

For the first-time ever, VMC has imaged what we believe to be the shadow of Mars' moon Phobos crossing the surface of Mars. The shadow cast by Phobos as it passes between the Sun and Mars was photographed by VMC on 30 January, just as Mars Express approaches an intensive scientific observation campaign of Phobos.

On 26 January, Mars Express completed its 7777th orbit around the Red Planet, an auspicious milestone as the satellite is readied for the closest-ever flyby of Phobos, scheduled for just a few weeks from now. Mars Express has been in orbit since 25 December 2003, returning a wealth of scientific information and some of the most stunning high-resolution imagery of the Red Planet ever. Its data have allowed scientists to measure the abundance of water ice and vapour in the martian subsurface, surface and the atmosphere, as well as previously unknown methane in the atmosphere. Mars Express' highly elliptical orbit will enable Mars Express, on 3 March, to conduct the closest flyby and examination of Phobos, Mars’ largest moon. The flyby, at a planned altitude of just 50 km, will collect very precise radio Doppler data to help determine the moon’s gravity field more accurately than ever.

FIRST there were canals. Then an ominous face lept from Mars' mysterious surface. Now, what looks like rows of alien trees is causing something of a stir. Like the tall tales that have gone before it, this latest image of Mars is nothing but an optical illusion. Taken by NASA and the European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter, the picture is from a collection showing vast sand dunes and icy landscapes on the surface of the red planet. Australian National University associate professor of astronomy Charley Lineweaver said the sand dunes were extremely steep, and the "tree-like" shapes were simply gullies running down the slopes.

For the very first time, the martian moons Phobos and Deimos have been caught on camera together. ESA’s Mars Express orbiter took these pioneering images last month. Apart from their ‘wow’ factor, these unique images will help the HRSC team validate and refine existing orbit models of the two moons. Phobos, the larger of the two moons, orbits closer to the Red Planet, circling it every 7 hours and 39 minutes. It travels faster relative to Mars than the Moon relative to Earth. It was 11 800 km from Mars Express when the images were taken. Deimos was 26 200 km away.

Unusual signals detected by the Mars Express MARSIS instrument have been used to determine the magnetic field strength of Mars. In a forthcoming issue of Icarus, Ferzan Akalin and colleagues demonstrate how the MARSIS instrument can be used as a magnetometer - an unexpected application with important consequences for studies of local plasma effects and the Mars Express spacecraft environment.

The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera imaged a region close to Ma’adim Vallis, one of the largest canyons on Mars, finding craters, lava flows and tectonic features. After Valles Marineris, Ma’adim Vallis is one of the largest canyons on Mars. The region, lying south-east of Ma’adim Vallis, was imaged on 24 December 2008. The pictures are centred at about 29°S and 182°E and have a ground resolution of 15 m/pixel.

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Tuesday announced mission extensions for three spacecraft currently exploring Mars, Venus and the Earth's magnet field. The extensions will allow Europe's current Mars Express and Venus Express probes to continue their missions at their respective planets through Dec. 31, while ESA's Cluster spacecraft will continue to do the same at Earth. The announcement marks the third extension for Mars Express, which launched toward the red planet in 2003 and ended its initial mission in October 2005. The boxy Mars Express is Europe's first mission to Mars and carries seven instruments, including a ground-penetrating radar that has probed beneath the Martian surface to discover pockets of buried water-ice.

Scientists using ESA’s Mars Express have produced the first crude map of aurorae on Mars. These displays of ultraviolet light appear to be located close to the residual magnetic fields generated by Mars’s crustal rocks. They highlight a number of mysteries about the way Mars interacts with electrically charged particles originating from the Sun. The aurorae on Mars were discovered in 2004 using the SPICAM ultraviolet and infrared atmospheric spectrometer on board Mars Express. They are a powerful tool with which scientists can investigate the composition and structure of the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

Mars Express closed in on the intriguing martian moon Phobos at 6:50 CEST on 23 July, flying past at 2.96 km/s, only 100 km from the centre of the moon. The ESA spacecraft’s fly-bys of the moon have returned its most detailed full-disc images ever, also in 3-D, using the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board. Phobos is what scientists call a ‘small irregular body’. Measuring 27 km × 22 km × 19 km, it is one of the least reflective objects in the Solar System, thought to be a captured asteroid or a remnant of the material that formed the planets.

Scientists and engineers are preparing ESA’s Mars Express for several close fly-bys of the Martian moon Phobos. Passing within 100 km of the surface, Mars Express will conduct some of the most detailed investigations of the moon to date. The series of fly-bys will take place between 12 July and 3 August. During the second encounter, the spacecraft will fly within 273 km of the surface. Six days later, Mars Express will close to within just 97 km.

Ever since Victorian astronomers pointed their telescopes towards Mars and wrongly believed they had discovered canals, mankind has been obsessed by the red planet. Now these astonishing new images - captured by a European spacecraft in orbit around Mars - are helping to fuel that fascination. They show in astonishing detail a network of giant valleys, vast plains and towering waterfalls carved into the surface of our neighbouring planet, millions of miles away. And while Mars today appears lifeless and parched, they are a reminder of how its surface was shaped by fast flowing streams, rivers and oceans. The pictures were captured by the European Space Agency's Mars Express Probe - a spacecraft the size of a large fridge-freezer that has been circling Mars since Christmas 2003.

Now more than ever, Mars is the focus of planetary research. A week after the resoundingly successful landing manoeuvre of NASA's Phoenix probe, scientists and engineers are celebrating the five-year anniversary of the launch of Mars Express, the first ever European planetary mission. The mission has already been extended a second time. "Mars Express has shown that Europe can assume a very important role in researching our solar system", says Professor Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) while commenting on the Mars probe's success. "Thanks to the German stereo camera on board the Mars Express, we can now observe our neighbouring planet through more realistic 3-D images than ever before. The 3-D images have opened up 'new perspectives' in the true sense of the word, not just for Mars, but for planetary research overall", says DLR chief Wörner.