Mars Express – planetaria

Subsurface lake discovered on Mars?

July 30, 2018 by Paul Scott Anderson

Water on Mars! Again! Doesn’t it seem like every year or two, we hear about some new water-related finding on the red planet? So far, …

Cloudy days on Mars

January 22, 2014 by Paul Scott Anderson

Clouds above Moreux crater in the Protonilus Mensae region. Click for larger version. Credit: ESA / G. Neukum (Freie Universitaet, Berlin, Germany) / Bill Dunford — Clouds above Moreux crater in the Protonilus Mensae region. Ancient streambeds can also be seen. Click for larger version. Credit: ESA / G. Neukum (Freie Universitaet, Berlin, Germany) / Bill Dunford

Mars can seem amazingly Earth-like in many ways, and that includes weather. Bill Dunford recently posted some new images from the Mars Express spacecraft, providing some great views of Martian clouds as they drift over the landscape below. The one above is a beautiful example and all of them can be seen here. While Martian clouds don’t get as big and puffy as they can on Earth, they are still a reminder that Mars is a place, a world with its own unique history while at the same time reminding us of home.

Mars Express celebrates ten years at Mars with new global maps

June 6, 2013 by Paul Scott Anderson

Artist's illustration of Mars Express in orbit. Credit: ESA — Artist’s illustration of Mars Express in orbit. Credit: ESA

With all of the attention that NASA’s rovers Opportunity and Curiosity have been getting, and deservedly so, we might forget sometimes that there are still other spacecraft orbiting Mars as well. NASA’s Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter continue to return amazing high-resolution views of the planet from orbit, but there is also the ESA’s Mars Express, a European probe which is now celebrating its tenth year in orbit and still going strong.