Author Topic: ESA - Mars Express updates  (Read 126186 times)

Offline Moe Grills

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #80 on: 11/02/2011 01:58 am »
  Some disturbing reports about Mars Express.
It seems that it has been shut down due to software problems.

 I ask you for details, please.

Offline rdale

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Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #82 on: 11/08/2011 01:21 pm »
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=49549

Mars Express observations temporarily suspended

31 Oct 2011

Anomalies in the operation of the solid-state mass memory system on board Mars Express have caused science observations to be temporarily halted. A technical work-around is being investigated that will enable the resumption of a number of observations and should evolve into a long-term solution.

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #83 on: 11/08/2011 08:06 pm »
Battered Tharsis Tholus volcano on Mars
 
8 November 2011

The latest image released from Mars Express reveals a large extinct volcano that has been battered and deformed over the aeons.
 
By Earthly standards, Tharsis Tholus is a giant, towering 8 km above the surrounding terrain, with a base stretching over 155 x 125 km. Yet on Mars, it is just an average-sized volcano. What marks it out as unusual is its battered condition.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMIU8TWLUG_index_0.html

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #84 on: 11/25/2011 08:50 am »
Mars Express steadily returns to routine operation
 
24 November 2011

Mission controllers are making excellent progress in returning Mars Express to routine service. Some science activities have already resumed after being temporarily suspended last month following a series of faults related to the onboard data storage system.

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEMYN9ZW5VG_0.html

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #85 on: 12/02/2011 10:33 am »
Mountains and buried ice on Mars
 
2 December 2011

New images from Mars Express show the Phlegra Montes mountain range, in a region where radar probing indicates large volumes of water ice are hiding below. This could be a source of water for future astronauts.
 
Phlegra Montes is a range of gently curving mountains and ridges on Mars. It extends from the northeastern portion of the Elysium volcanic province to the northern lowlands, spanning latitudes from roughly 30°N to 50°N.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUGI2XFVG_index_0.html

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #86 on: 12/14/2011 03:34 pm »
MARSIS completes measurement campaign over Martian North Pole

14 Dec 2011

The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on board Mars Express has recently completed a subsurface sounding campaign over the planet's North Pole. The campaign was interrupted by the suspension of science observations several times between August and October due to safe modes and to anomalies in the operation of the spacecraft's Solid-State Mass Memory (SSMM) system. As MARSIS best observes in the dark, which for the North Pole only occurs every few years, it was among the first instruments to resume observations once a partial work-around for the problems had been implemented.

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=49771
« Last Edit: 12/14/2011 04:42 pm by bolun »

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #87 on: 01/13/2012 12:48 pm »

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #88 on: 01/13/2012 01:00 pm »
Mars Express: 'Wrinkle ridges' and grabens in Tempe Terra

06 January 2012

Tempe Terra is located at the northeastern edge of the Tharsis volcanic region and forms the transition zone between the southern highlands and the northern lowlands. This area is characterised by a large variety of tectonic structures and is one of the most geologically diverse on Mars.

http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10231/336_read-2417/year-2012/

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #89 on: 02/03/2012 03:49 pm »
Mars Express reveals wind-blown deposits on Mars

3 February 2012
New images from ESA’s Mars Express show the Syrtis Major region on Mars. Once thought to be a sea of water, the region is now known to be a volcanic province dating back billions of years.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM1NHTXXXG_index_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #90 on: 02/06/2012 03:18 pm »
ESA's Mars Express radar gives strong evidence for former Mars ocean
 
6 February 2012

ESA's Mars Express has returned strong evidence for an ocean once covering part of Mars. Using radar, it has detected sediments reminiscent of an ocean floor within the boundaries of previously identified, ancient shorelines on Mars.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVINVX7YG_index_0.html

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #91 on: 02/15/2012 12:52 pm »
Return to full science operations

15 Feb 2012

Following a permanent anomaly affecting the onboard solid-state mass memory system on Mars Express, efforts to implement a work-around are almost complete. Full science operations have been resumed and the potential mission lifetime remains unaltered.

Since the suspension of Mars Express science operations, the mission control team has been hard at work devising, testing and implementing a new method of commanding the spacecraft in order to mitigate the effects of a failure in the onboard data storage system.

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=50026

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #92 on: 03/26/2012 01:34 pm »
A glow in the Martian night throws light on atmospheric circulation

23 Mar 2012

A faint, infrared glow above the winter poles of Mars is giving new insights into seasonal changes in the planet's atmospheric circulation. The tell-tale night emission was first detected in 2004 in observations made by the OMEGA imaging spectrometer on ESA's Mars Express orbiter.

 http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=50198

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #93 on: 04/05/2012 07:56 pm »
The pit-chains of Mars – a possible place for life?

5 April 2012

The latest images released from ESA’s Mars Express reveal a series of ‘pit-chains’ on the flanks of one of the largest volcanoes in the Solar System. Depending on their origin, they might be tempting targets in the search for microbial life on the Red Planet.

Offline jacqmans

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #94 on: 04/26/2012 05:04 pm »
First Mars Express gravity results plot volcanic history

26 April 2012

Five years of Mars Express gravity mapping data are providing unique insights into what lies beneath the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes. The results show that the lava grew denser over time and that the thickness of the planet's rigid outer layers varies across the Tharsis region.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM6HJNW91H_index_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #95 on: 05/04/2012 03:50 pm »
Signs of ancient flowing water on Mars

4 May 2012

ESA’s Mars Express has returned images of a region on the Red Planet that appears to have been sculpted in part by flowing liquid. This again adds to the growing evidence that Mars had large volumes of water on its surface in the distant past.
 
On 21 June last year, Mars Express pointed its high-resolution stereo camera at the western part of Acidalia Planitia, a gigantic basin in the planet’s northern lowlands, at the interface with Tempe Terra, an older, higher terrain.
 
Acidalia Planitia is a region so vast that it can be seen from Earth by amateur astronomers.

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM2RJQWJ1H_index_0.html

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #96 on: 05/21/2012 02:00 pm »
http://blogs.esa.int/vmc/2012/05/21/return-of-the-mars-webcam/

Quote
The smallest instrument on Mars Express - VMC (Visual Monitoring Camera), the Mars Webcam - has finally returned to service following the major anomaly that struck Mars Express at the end of summer 2011.

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #97 on: 06/07/2012 11:18 am »
Mars crater shows evidence for climate evolution

7 June 2012

ESA’s Mars Express has provided images of a remarkable crater on Mars that may show evidence that the planet underwent significant periodic fluctuations in its climate due to changes in its rotation axis.

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMD285XX2H_index_0.html
« Last Edit: 06/07/2012 11:21 am by bolun »

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #98 on: 06/27/2012 02:36 pm »
Craters expose action of groundwater beneath Martian highlands

27 Jun 2012

A new study of the ancient, cratered highlands of Mars has detected numerous exposures of minerals that were altered by underground water during the planet's early history. The data indicate that subsurface water persisted for prolonged periods of time during the first billion years of the planet's existence.

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=50508

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMKT91VW3H_index_0.html
« Last Edit: 06/27/2012 02:42 pm by bolun »

Offline bolun

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Re: ESA - Mars Express updates
« Reply #99 on: 07/05/2012 01:06 pm »
Melas Dorsa reveals a complex geological history on Mars
 
5 July 2012

ESA’s Mars Express has imaged an area to the south of the famed Valles Marineris canyon on the Red Planet, showing a wide range of tectonic and impact features.
 
On 17 April, the orbiter pointed its high-resolution stereo camera at the Melas Dorsa region of Mars. This area sits in the volcanic highlands of Mars between Sinai and Thaumasia Plana, 250 km south of Melas Chasma. Melas Chasma itself is part of the Valles Marineris rift system.

The image captures wrinkle ridges, some unusual intersecting faults and an elliptical crater surrounded by ejecta in the shape of a butterfly and with a strange ‘fluid-like’ appearance. 

Elliptical craters like this 16 km-wide example are formed when asteroids or comets strike the surface of the planet at a shallow angle.

Scientists have suggested that a fluidised ejecta pattern indicates the presence of subsurface ice which melted during the impact. Subsequent impacts have created a number of smaller craters in the ejecta blanket.

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM26D2VW3H_index_0.html

Tags: mars express ESA Mars 
 

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