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Mars Express

All articles tagged with #mars express

space10 days ago•9 min saved

Mars Express uncovers megaflood landscape hinting at an ancient Martian ocean

ESA’s Mars Express reveals a hundreds-of-miles-long, several-miles-wide, and over-a-thousand-feet-deep channel in Shalbatana Vallis with chaotic terrain and layered deposits, strengthening the case that episodic floods fed a northern ocean on Mars. While the data support a pulsed-ocean scenario with water periodically releasing from subsurface ice, the debate over whether the ocean was long-lived or episodic remains unsettled.

via Space Daily|

#ancient-mars-ocean #chaotic-terrain #mars-express

space10 days ago•71 min saved

Mars Express uncovers ancient flood-carved chaos in Shalbatana Vallis

European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter released high-resolution imagery of Shalbatana Vallis, a sprawling Martian channel near the equator, revealing chaotic terrain formed by catastrophic groundwater-fed floods about 3.5 billion years ago; the main channel is roughly 6 miles wide and plunges about 500 meters, with layered deposits and volcanic ash indicating multiple floods, lava flows, and erosion that point to Mars being warmer and wetter in the past and possibly hosting an ancient ocean near Chryse Planitia.

via Space|

#ancient-floods #chaotic-terrain #mars

space12 days ago•3 min saved

Ancient groundwater carved a 1300-km Martian channel in Shalbatana Vallis

ESA’s Mars Express highlights Shalbatana Vallis, a 1300-km, water-worn channel near Mars’ equator formed about 3.5 billion years ago by groundwater floods. The image reveals winding valleys, chaotic terrain, and hints of past lava flows and volcanic ash, with nearby Chryse Planitia—a region some scientists speculate may have hosted an ancient Martian ocean. The mission’s HRSC data continue to map Mars in 3D and color, deepening our understanding of its watery past.

via European Space Agency|

#chaotic-terrain #mars #mars-express

space1 month ago•74 min saved

Mars Express spots ancient ocean clues in Utopia Planitia

European Space Agency’s Mars Express has captured high‑resolution images of Utopia Planitia showing dark, ancient volcanic ash spreading across the northern Martian plain. The new views—comparing with 1970s Viking data—suggest Mars’ surface features can change over decades, possibly due to wind redistributing ash or exposing underlying material. The imagery also highlights subsurface ice and ice-rich permafrost beneath the plains, along with tectonic features like grabens and scalloped depressions that trace Mars’ dynamic geology and the past presence of a large body of water in this region billions of years ago.

via Space|

#ancient-ocean #mars #mars-express

space1 month ago•92 min saved

Mars’ Expanding Shadow in Utopia Planitia Baffles Scientists After 50 Years

A dark patch in Mars’ Utopia Planitia, made of ash and volcanic rocks, has slowly expanded since it was first photographed by Viking 2 in 1976. ESA’s Mars Express captured new images in 2024 showing the shadow creeping southward by roughly 320 km (about 6.5 km per year). Scientists think Martian winds likely move the ash or blow away dust covering it, but the exact cause is still unknown.

via Live Science|

#mars #mars-express #planetary-geology

science1 month ago•37 min saved

Mars’s 50-Year Shadow Keeps Expanding, but Scientists Remain Stumped

A dark patch of ash and volcanic rocks in Mars’ Utopia Planitia has gradually expanded since it was first photographed in 1976, with its southern boundary moving at least ~320 km (about 200 miles) and the patch growing around 6.5 km per year. Scientists aren’t sure why this is happening; leading possibilities include winds moving the ash or blowing away overlying ochre dust. ESA and other missions have provided updated images and context, linking the region to Mars’ complex geology, possible ancient oceans, grabens, and buried ice, all of which influence ongoing questions about the planet’s climate and tectonics.

via Yahoo|

#mars #mars-express #martian-winds

science1 month ago•32 min saved

Mars Express spots rapid dark wave creeping across the Martian surface

The European Space Agency’s Mars Express captured an HRSC image showing a fast-spreading dark patch across Utopia Planitia on Mars, created by winds blowing ash from ancient eruptions or revealing buried igneous rock. A side‑by‑side with a 1976 Viking view highlights the change. Scientists say winds are moving surface material and exposing new geology, with features suggesting buried water ice and impact scars revealing Mars’s complex past.

via Yahoo|

#light-and-darkness #mars-express #martian-winds

space-and-spaceflight1 month ago•16 min saved

Mars Express Spots Dark Ash Creeping Across the Red Planet

ESA’s Mars Express captured a November 9, 2024 image showing a dark blanket of volcanic ash creeping over Mars near Utopia Planitia, contrasting with NASA’s 1976 Viking views. Scientists suggest the ash spread could be wind-driven or the dust covering it has been removed, indicating surface change over decades. The feature sits above ice beneath the surface and includes scalloped depressions that hint at periglacial processes, underscoring Mars’ volcanic history and ongoing landscape evolution mapped by Mars Express since 2003.

via Gizmodo|

#exomars #mars #mars-express

space2 months ago•55 min saved

Martian solar storm sparks record electron surge observed by ESA orbiters

Two ESA Mars-orbiting missions, Mars Express and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, observed a powerful solar superstorm that also struck Earth in May 2024 and hit Mars, flooding the planet’s upper atmosphere with electrons (about 45% at ~110 km and 278% at ~130 km) and causing radiation-induced glitches in the spacecraft. Using a radio occultation technique, scientists mapped the atmospheric response and noted that Mars—lacking a global magnetic field—reacts differently to space weather than Earth; the observations were unusually well-timed after a large solar flare, and the results were published in Nature Communications.

via Space|

#exomars-trace-gas-orbiter #mars #mars-express

astronomy2 months ago•53 min saved

New Mars view exposes Arabia Terra's ancient cratered heart

ESA's Mars Express released a richly processed color/topographic image of Arabia Terra (Oct. 12, 2024, HRSC) showing the Red Planet's ancient highlands with Trouvelot Crater at the center and a nearby older, eroded basin. The scene highlights mafic rocks, wind-sculpted dunes, and a light-toned mound that may reveal water-related minerals, illustrating billions of years of impact, volcanism and erosion in this region, and emphasizing the ongoing scientific value of reprocessing archived data rather than a brand-new snapshot.

via Space|

#arabia-terra #astronomy #hrsc

science2 months ago•3 min saved

Solar Superstorm Expands Mars's Ionosphere, Revealing Space Weather on the Red Planet

A May 2024 solar superstorm from sunspot AR3664 produced an X2.9 flare and a coronal mass ejection that not only triggered a major Earth geomagnetic storm but also dramatically swelled Mars’s lower ionosphere—nearly threefold—as solar plasma and X‑rays flooded the planet’s upper atmosphere. ESA’s Mars Express and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter used radio occultation to measure the changes, showing how solar activity injects energy and particles into Mars’s atmosphere and highlighting its ongoing atmospheric loss. The orbiters briefly glitching during the storm but ultimately recovering demonstrates the value of radiation‑hard spacecraft for space weather studies.

via Gizmodo|

#exomars #ionosphere #mars

space4 months ago•73 min saved

Mars Express captures wind-carved yardangs along Medusae Fossae

ESA's Mars Express HRSC image reveals a string of yardangs—long, wind-sculpted ridges—along the Medusae Fossae Formation near Eumenides Dorsum, illustrating persistent winds eroding Martian rocks and helping scientists infer modern near-surface conditions on the Red Planet.

via Space|

#eumenides-dorsum #mars-express #medusae-fossae-formation

space4 months ago•5 min saved

Mars Yardangs Tell a Triple Tale of Wind, Lava, and Impact

ESA's Mars Express imagery reveals wind-sculpted yardangs in the Medusae Fossae Formation near Eumenides Dorsum, showing how Martian winds carve ridges and overlap with a recent lava flow and a nearby impact crater—a rare snapshot of wind erosion, volcanism, and impact in one frame.

via Indian Defence Review|

#mars #mars-express #medusae-fossae-formation

science5 months ago•4 min saved

NASA’s Mars Express Captures Stunning True-Color and Upside-Down Views of Mars

A new true-color mosaic of Mars, created from 20 years of data by ESA's Mars Express, offers the most accurate visual representation of the planet's surface, revealing nuanced colors and geological features that challenge previous exaggerated red portrayals, and providing valuable scientific insights into Mars' mineral diversity and history.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#esa #mars #mars-express

science-and-exploration5 months ago•4 min saved

Stunning New Mars Images Reveal Surprising Details and True Colors

ESA's Mars Express has captured an image of a unique crater on Mars that resembles a butterfly, formed by a low-angle impact that created irregular wings and a central oval body, with evidence suggesting interaction with water or ice during formation. The region also features volcanic mesas and signs of past volcanic activity, providing insights into Mars's geological history.

via European Space Agency|

#crater #geology #mars