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Five to Mars
| Title |
Five to Mars |
| Explanation |
Come December 2003 - January 2004, an armada of five new invaders [ http://www.planetary.org/rrgtm/missions5.html ] from Earth should arrive on the shores of the Red Planet -- the Japanese ( ISAS [ http://www.isas.ac.jp/ ]) Nozomi [ http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/nozomi/ index.html ] orbiter, the European Space Agency's Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/home/marsexpress/ ] orbiter carrying the Beagle 2 [ http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm ] lander, and NASA's own two Mars Exploration [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/ ] Rovers. While Nozomi began [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980904.html ] its interplanetary voyage in 1998, the other spacecraft are scheduled for launch windows beginning this June. Clearly, earthdwellers remain intensely curious about Mars and the tantalizing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030221.html ] possibility of past or present martian life [ http://cmex-www.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/ stratex.htm ], with these robotic missions focussing on investigating the planet's atmosphere and the search for water [ http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Sept98/GusevMars.html ]. This mosaic [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/caption/ marsglobe2.txt ] of over 100 Viking 1 orbiter images of Mars [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/ photogallery-mars.html ] was recorded in 1980 and is projected to show the perspective seen from an approaching spacecraft at a distance of 2,000 kilometers. Exceptional [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/ article_929_1.asp ] views of Mars will be possible from earthbound telescopes in August and September. |
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Dust Storm Over Northern Mar
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| Title |
Dust Storm Over Northern Mars |
| Explanation |
Almost on cue [ http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_998_1.asp ], as Mars nears its closest approach to planet Earth in recorded history, ominous seasonal [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/06/28/ index.html ] dust storms are beginning to kick up. Observers [ http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/mars/ chap15.htm ] worry that the activity may presage the development of a planet wide dust storm [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011017.html ], frustrating attempts to view Mars in the coming months, a situation similar to the Red Planet's uncooperative behavior [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010727.html ] in 2001. In this example [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/05/28/ index.html ], recorded in mid-May by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft camera, a dust storm the size of a continent sweeps north and east (toward the upper right) across Mars' northern Acidalia Planitia. Meanwhile [ http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/fun/mars_chro.html ], interplanetary robotic explorers Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/ index.cfm?fareaid=9 ]/ Beagle 2 [ http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm ], Nozomi [ http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/nozomi/ index.html ], and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/ ] Opportunity and Spirit, are all bound for Mars and should arrive by early January 2004. |
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Express to Mars
| Title |
Express to Mars |
| Explanation |
Hurtling toward its destination, the high resolution camera on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft [ http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/ index.html ] recorded this tantalizing view [ http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/ SEMN3GUZJND_0.html ] of the Red Planet earlier this month on December 3rd. Seen from a distance of 5.5 million kilometers, features across part of Mars' [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010626.html ] western hemisphere are bathed in sunlight. The Martian night [ http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/ ] side is also prominent from the spacecraft's perspective, a view not possible for Earthbound [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030902.html ] telescopes. Launched on an interplanetary voyage [ http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/ SEMNS75V9ED_0.html ] of exploration in early June, Mars Express carries with it the Beagle 2 lander [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/ index.cfm?fobjectid=34374 ], scheduled to be released from Mars Express tomorrow, December 19th. Mars Express and Beagle 2 will then continue the journey separately, but both are scheduled to reach Mars on December 25th, with Mars Express entering an elliptical orbit [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf3-3.html ] and Beagle 2 descending to the Martian surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030626.html ]. Two more invaders from Earth, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html ], will arrive in January. |
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Valles Marineris from Mars E
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| Title |
Valles Marineris from Mars Express |
| Explanation |
Looking down from orbit on January 14, ESA's Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=9 ] spacecraft scanned a 1700 by 65 kilometer swath across Valles Marineris [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030824.html ] - the Grand Canyon of Mars - with its remarkable High Resolution Stereo Camera. This spectacular picture [ http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/ SEMWF0474OD_1.html#subhead1 ] reconstructs part of the scanned region from the stereo colour image data recording the rugged terrain with a resolution of 12 metres per pixel. Joining Mars Global Surveyor [ http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ] and Mars Odyssey [ http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/ ], Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/ index.cfm?fobjectid=31388 ] has been orbiting the red planet since December 25th, returning scientific data, acting as a communications relay, and even making coordinated [ http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/ SEM8XX374OD_0.html ] atmospheric observations with NASA's Spirit rover [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html ] on the surface. The Beagle 2 [ http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm ] lander was released from Mars Express making a landing attempt also on December 25th, but no signal has been received so far. Opportunity Mars Landing News [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html ] |
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The Mars Express spacecraft
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| title |
The Mars Express spacecraft after release of the Beagle 2 lander |
| Description |
The Mars Express spacecraft after release of the Beagle 2 lander. Credit: ESA |
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| Description |
*Hi Res JPG (56 kB)* *Mars Express* Beagle 2's heat resistant shield protects it from heat generated by friction with the martian atmosphere. Parachutes deploy to slow it down further, then gas-filled bags inflate to soften its landing. |
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Beagle 2 lander leaving the
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| title |
Beagle 2 lander leaving the Mars Express orbiter |
| Description |
The Beagle 2 lander, to be carried on ESA's Mars Express, is equipped with a suite of instruments designed to look for evidence of life on Mars. The Soyuz/Fregat lifts off on 2 June 2003 with ESA's Mars Express. Europe's first mission to the Red Planet leaves Earth when the positions of the two planets make for the shortest possible route, a condition that occurs once every twenty-six months. The intrepid spacecraft will start its six-month journey from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan onboard a Russian Soyuz/Fregat launcher. Credit: ESA |
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The Beagle 2 lander
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The Beagle 2 lander |
| Description |
The Beagle 2 lander, to be carried on ESA's Mars Express, is equipped with a suite of instruments designed to look for evidence of life on Mars. Credit: ESA |
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Mars Express releases Beagle
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| title |
Mars Express releases Beagle 2 |
| Description |
The bright spot on the left-hand side of this picture is the back side of Beagle 2, slowly drifting away from Mars Express. This image, taken this morning at 9:33 CET, shows the lander when it was about 20 metres away from the mother spacecraft, on its way to Mars. Credit: ESA |
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Mars on 25 December 2003
PIA05125
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars on 25 December 2003 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
8 January 2004 This is how Mars appeared to the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle system on 25 December 2003, the day that Beagle 2 and Mars Express reached the red planet. The large, dark region just left of center is Syrtis Major, a persistent low albedo terrain known to astronomers for nearly four centuries before the first spacecraft went to Mars. Immediately to the right (east) of Syrtis Major is the somewhat circular plain, Isidis Planitia. Beagle 2 arrived in Isidis Planitia only about 18 minutes before Mars Global Surveyor flew over the region and acquired a portion of this global view. Relative to other global images of Mars acquired by MGS over the past several martian years, the surface features were not as sharp and distinct on 25 December 2003 because of considerable haze kicked up by large dust storms in the western and southern hemispheres during th previous two weeks. The picture is a composite of several MGS MOC red and blue daily global images that have been map-projected and digitally wrapped to a sphere. Although the effect here is minor, inspection of this mosaic shows zones that appear smudged or blurry. The high dust opacity on 25 December impacted MOC's oblique viewing geometry toward the edges of each orbit's daily global mapping image, thus emphasizing the "blurry" zones between images acquired on successive orbits. |
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Portion of Beagle 2 Landing
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PIA09592
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Portion of Beagle 2 Landing Ellipse in Isidis Planitia |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image (PSP_002347_1915 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002347_1915 ]) was targeted to a dark spot seen in a MOC image that was suggested to be the Beagle 2 landing site (see Beagle 2 Landing Site Located [ http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000321/ ] for more information). The dark spot corresponds to an impact crater, shown here in color. The European Beagle 2 lander was carried by the Mars Express orbiting spacecraft and released into the Martian atmosphere in December 2003, but Observation Geometry Acquisition date: 1 January 2007 Local Mars time: 3:40 PM Degrees latitude (centered): 11.7 ° Degrees longitude (East): 90.7 ° Range to target site: 278.3 km (173.9 miles) Original image scale range: 27.8 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~84 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR Emission angle: 3.3 ° Phase angle: 51.9 ° Solar incidence angle: 55 °, with the Sun about 35 ° above the horizon Solar longitude: 173.1 °, Northern Summer NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo. |
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