| Mission extensions approved for science missions |
| ESA's Science Programme Committee has approved the extension of mission operations for XMM-Newton, INTEGRAL, Venus Express, Mars Express and Cluster, as well as the ESA support to the operations of HST and SOHO, until 31 December 2012. An additional year of operations has been approved for Planck. |
| Date: 07 Oct 2009 |
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| MARSIS data reveal new method to measure the magnetic field of Mars |
| 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. |
| Date: 22 Sep 2009 |
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| Reconciling methane variations on Mars |
| Since the discovery of its presence in the Martian atmosphere, methane has remained an intriguing atmospheric component which source (either of biotic or abiotic origin) is not yet fully understood. The recently reported variations in the concentration of atmospheric methane have proven difficult to explain with 3-D numerical models of the atmosphere that include the known chemical and physical processes. In a paper published this week in Nature, Franck Lefèvre and François Forget present their study to derive the implications of the observed methane concentrations on Mars and their variability. They conclude that there needs to be both an intense localised source of methane and a destruction mechanism that is much more efficient than the known atmospheric processes that break down methane. Further, if this efficient destruction of methane occurs only close to the surface, these findings imply a very harsh environment for organic molecules to survive on the surface of Mars. |
| Date: 06 Aug 2009 |
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| ESA extends missions studying Mars, Venus and Earth's magnetosphere |
ESA's Science Programme Committee has extended the operations of ESA's Mars Express, Venus Express and Cluster missions until 31 December 2009. The decision to extend the three successful missions was taken on 4 February this year.
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| Date: 09 Feb 2009 |
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| Mars Express reveals a link between ferric oxides and sulfates in equatorial regions of Mars |
| Observations made with the OMEGA imaging spectrometer onboard Mars Express reveal very strong signatures of sulfates and ferric oxides in Aram Chaos. Detailed morphological analyses indicate that the concentration of ferric oxides in this region results from the alteration of a sulfate rich sedimentary formation resting on the floor of the crater. |
| Date: 18 Dec 2008 |
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| What is the origin of light-toned deposits on Mars? |
| Light-Toned Deposits (LTD) on the surface of Mars have been at the centre of scientific debate since their discovery by the Viking spacecraft in the late 1970's. In a recent paper, using data obtained with Mars Express, Angelo Pio Rossi and colleagues propose that several LTD are vestiges of large-scale spring deposits.
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| Date: 10 Dec 2008 |
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| HRSC High-level Data Products Available |
| Tuesday, 5 February, saw the release of the first set of high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTM) and ortho-images of Mars in the Planetary Science Archive derived from HRSC data. |
| Date: 06 Feb 2008 |
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| EMSEC 2007: The European Mars Science and Exploration Conference |
| The European Mars Science and Exploration Conference: Mars Express and ExoMars will be held in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, from 12 to 16 November 2007. The conference will reflect on the many discoveries of Mars Express, and look towards the ExoMars mission - the next step in European exploration of Mars. |
| Date: 06 Nov 2007 |
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| Mars Express Second Mission Extension |
| The Science Programme Committee at its meeting on 23 February 2007 has unanimously approved an extension of the Mars Express mission operations, pushing back the mission end date to early-May 2009. |
| Date: 28 Feb 2007 |
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| HRSC Topographic Maps of Mars |
| Data obtained with the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) has been used to produce new topographic maps of Mars at different scales. |
| Date: 13 Feb 2007 |
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| MARSIS Finds Ancient Buried Basins on Mars |
| The MARSIS instrument on board Mars Express has found evidence of ancient buried basins in the Martian northern lowlands. The discovery of these sub-surface features provides important constraints on the geological history of the Martian crust and in particular the division between the heavily cratered southern highlands and the smoother lowlands on the northern hemisphere. |
| Date: 14 Dec 2006 |
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| OMEGA Measurements of Southern Polar Cap |
| The polar caps on Mars consist chiefly of CO2 and exhibit seasonal variations in their coverage. Observations by the OMEGA instrument are challenging current theories on the nature of one particular region of the southern polar cap known as the cryptic region. |
| Date: 27 Oct 2006 |
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| Cydonia Region |
| Mars Express has obtained images of the Cydonia region, site of the famous Face on Mars. After multiple attempts from April 2004 until July 2006 to image the Cydonia region at high resolution were frustrated by altitude and atmospheric dust and haze, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express finally obtained, on 22 July, a series of images that show the famous face on Mars in unprecedented detail. |
| Date: 21 Sep 2006 |
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| HRSC Map Projected Data |
| Map projected data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) flown on Mars Express are available for the scientific community from ESA's Planetary Science Archive and NASA's Planetary Data System. |
| Date: 19 Apr 2006 |
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| MARSIS 2nd Boom Deployed |
| The second 20-metre antenna boom of the MARSIS instrument on board Mars Express was successfully - and smoothly - deployed, confirmed the ground team at ESA's European Space Operations Centre, 16 June. |
| Date: 17 Jun 2005 |
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| Discovery of Martian Aurora |
| Several planets within the Solar System are known to have high-latitude aurora: Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. In each case the cause is an interaction between electrically charged particles with the upper atmosphere along magnetic field lines. Mars, however, does not possess an internal magnetic field and so a different aurora mechanism must be considered. The Martian aurora is a highly concentrated, localised emission controlled by magnetic field anomalies in the Martian crust. |
| Date: 10 Jun 2005 |
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| Date MARSIS 2nd Boom Deployment |
| Following in-depth analyses performed after the deployment of the first MARSIS antenna boom on board Mars Express, ESA has decided to proceed with the deployment of the second 20-metre antenna boom. |
| Date: 07 Jun 2005 |
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| First MARSIS boom successfully deployed |
| Thanks to a manoeuvre performed on 10 May 2005 at 19:20 UT, ESA flight controllers have successfully completed the deployment of the first boom of the MARSIS radar on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft.
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| Date: 11 May 2005 |
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| 1st Mars Express Science Conference |
21 - 25 February 2005
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC)
Noordwijk, The Netherlands |
| Date: 19 Oct 2004 |
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| Water and methane maps overlap on Mars: a new clue? |
Recent analyses of ESA's Mars Express data reveal that concentrations of water vapour and methane in the atmosphere of Mars significantly overlap. This result, from data obtained by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), gives a boost to understanding of geological and atmospheric processes on Mars, and provides important new hints to evaluate the hypothesis of present life on the Red Planet.
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| Date: 20 Sep 2004 |
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