mars exploration Archives

Since 2003, the Mars Express mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) has been orbiting the Red Planet to take pictures of its surface. It only recently sent down photographs of Mars' Utopia Planitia, a significant basin in the planet's northern hemisphere that is entirely covered in ice and about twice the size of the Sahara Desert. Finally, a powerful canyon system was photographed. It has recently made some new images available, and they are more captivating than ever. According to a news statement from the ESA, "the most recent photograph from Mars Express takes us over two ruptures in the martian crust that form part of the massive Valles Marineris canyon system." The Grand Canyon in the United States has been likened to Valles Marineris, however the latter is significantly s...

Not so long ago, mankind had no notion what life was like on Mars' surface. Skywatchers have been aware of the tiny orange dot's motion across the night sky for at least millennia. The little orange dot moves in enormous loops that resemble unreadable cursive writing. But now that NASA's Perseverance rover has sensors on board, we have photographs of the Martian topography to understand how an intrepid hiker may see it. And it's lovely. Paul Byrne, an associate professor of planetary geology at North Carolina State University, has discovered some especially stunning photographs in the collection of unprocessed rover images that NASA makes public. The agency has provided roughly 300,000 images from the mission, including this one. The images of the Martian landscape taken by Persever...

Tag: mars exploration

Mars Express Orbiter from ESA provides fascinating views of the massive canyon on the Red Planet.

Today’s images of Mars rocks provide a window into a fascinating universe.