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Posted by Justin Cowart on 2016/05/04 12:45 CDT | 1 comments
Justin Cowart shares some spectacular images showcasing Mars' volcanoes from Mars Express.
Mars Express VMC is back online
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2016/03/04 12:48 CST
Mars Express' Visual Monitoring Camera is taking photos again! The camera was turned on for the first time in six months on Leap Day to take some lovely photos of Mars.
What's up in solar system exploration: March 2016 edition
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2016/02/29 02:45 CST | 4 comments
Welcome to my monthly inventory of the 20-plus spacecraft actively exploring our solar system. Highlights of this month include the impending launch of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander, currently planned for March 14, and the resumption of regular VMC Mars images by Mars Express.
Atlanta Students Bring Mars to Earth
Posted by Mark Sequeira on 2016/02/26 09:22 CST | 1 comments
A group of students from Georgia, USA, were able to explore Mars through the Mars Express #VMCschools campaign, with a little help from The Planetary Society's image processing tutorials.
Wide views of Mars from Mars Express
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2016/01/27 10:59 CST | 4 comments
Geologist and amateur space image processor Justin Cowart has dug into the Mars Express archives and located some lovely, wide views across great swaths of the Martian globe.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/11/04 07:15 CST
There have been several important pieces of news about European missions in the last month: Rosetta's fate has been determined; ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter's launch is slightly delayed; and they have selected a landing site for the ExoMars rover.
Pretty Picture: A Sweeping View of the Martian South Pole
Posted by Jason Davis on 2015/09/10 11:56 CDT | 1 comments
The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft captured a sweeping view of Mars' south pole, along with a region extending northward to Hellas Basin.
What's up in solar system exploration: August 2015 edition
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/08/10 07:31 CDT | 5 comments
I'm back from two weeks' vacation, so it's time to catch up on the status of all our intrepid planetary missions, from Akatsuki to the Voyagers and hitting the Moon, Mars, asteroids, comets, and Saturn in between.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/03/06 11:42 CST | 1 comments
Dawn has successfully entered orbit at Ceres, becoming the first mission to orbit a dwarf planet and the first to orbit two different bodies beyond Earth. I also have updates on Curiosity, Rosetta, Mars Express, Hayabusa2, the Chang'e program, InSIGHT, and OSIRIS-REx.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2015/02/23 10:03 CST | 2 comments
New landscapes from Mars Express.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2015/02/02 05:03 CST | 1 comments
More examples of imperfect--but tantalizing--images from deep space.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/01/16 11:04 CST | 5 comments
What happened to Beagle 2? It's been a mystery for 11 years. That mystery appears to have been solved.
Seven Mars spacecraft attempted observations of comet Siding Spring. How did they go?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/11/03 04:03 CST | 6 comments
It's been two weeks since comet Siding Spring passed close by Mars, and six of the seven Mars spacecraft have now checked in with quick looks at their images of the encounter. I round up all the results.
Status update: All Mars missions fine after Siding Spring flyby
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/20 12:07 CDT | 2 comments
All seven Mars spacecraft are doing perfectly fine after comet Siding Spring's close encounter with Mars.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/10/14 08:05 CDT | 10 comments
Today the Mars Orbiter Mission released a nice four-image animation of teeny dark Phobos crossing Mars' huge orange disk. Mars Orbiter Mission joins a long line of Mars missions that have produced images of Mars and Phobos together.
Mars Orbiter Mission delivers on promise of global views of Mars
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/09/29 11:15 CDT | 18 comments
Ever since I first learned about the capabilities of Mars Orbiter Mission's small payload of science instruments, I have been anticipating one type of data in particular: global color views of Mars captured in a single 2000-pixel-square frame. Just days after entering orbit, Mars Orbiter Mission has delivered on that promise.
Comet Siding Spring Mars encounter: One Mars Express plan becomes two
Posted by ESA Mars Express Team on 2014/09/17 10:44 CDT | 2 comments
The Mars Express Flight Control Team at ESOC have been actively preparing for the flyby of comet C/2013 A1/Siding Spring on October 19. Initial estimates gave the possibility that Mars Express might be hit by 2 or 3 high-speed particles. Happily, additional observations by ground and space telescopes have shown the risk to be much lower – and perhaps even as low as zero. In today's blog post, the team explain how this (happy!) real-life, real-time development is affecting their preparations for fly-by.
So Close and Yet So Far: Why isn't Siding Spring going to sandblast Mars?
Posted by Tony Farnham on 2014/09/09 09:02 CDT | 5 comments
Comet Siding Spring is going to make a very close approach to Mars in October. Any comet dust that reaches Mars has the potential to inflict significant damage on the spacecraft orbiting the planet. As it turns out, however, Mars and its orbiters are likely to see very few, if any, impacts. Why?
Curiosity Rover Science Plan Slammed by NASA Review Panel
Planetary science senior review still supports continued funding
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2014/09/03 01:55 CDT | 19 comments
Senior review recommends continuing all major planetary exploration missions, but not without some changes.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2014/08/18 10:34 CDT | 7 comments
The latest snaphots from the "Mars Webcam" include something special.
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