Cienciaes.com: Mars seen from MarsExpress. We speak with Ricardo Amils.

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On June 2, 2003, the European space probe MarsExpress departed from the Baikonur cosmodrome, initially composed of an orbiter and a descent module, the Beagle 2, which was to land on the surface and carry out “in situ” analysis. to search for signs of life on Mars. Unfortunately, the Beagle2 failed to achieve its objective and crashed on landing, so the mission was reduced to the MarsExpress orbiter. That probe managed to acquire an elliptical orbit around Mars and since then it has been providing very important data on the mineralogical composition, the possible existence of water in underground deposits, the atmosphere and other parameters of the planet.

The success of MarsExpress has been such that a notable number of scientists advocate its continuity, taking into account that it currently only has funds to operate until March 2023. A few days ago, Ricardo Amils, who was recently on Hablando con Científicos talking about the dark biosphere that exists in the depths of the Earth and, possibly in other places, such as Mars, informed us of the existence of a letter addressed by the scientific community to the ESA, the European Space Agency, in which the extension of the mission for another period is requested. Why is it so important that MarsExpress continue taking data from Mars? What have been your achievements during these almost 20 years that you have been revolving around the Red Planet? We talk about all this and much more today with Ricardo Amils..

Main achievements of Mars Express:

hydrated minerals. The probe made the first detection of hydrated minerals on the surface, minerals that are produced by the action of liquid water, firmly establishing that Mars once hosted conditions conducive to the emergence of life;

Water ice on the surface and in the depths. MarsExpress has enabled mapping of water ice at the surface and in the depths, which has helped to decipher the recent evolution of the climate of Mars and the inner layers of the polar ice caps;

Martian atmosphere. The data collected by Mars Express have made it possible to carry out the first annual ozone study; the first detection of methane whose presence challenges our understanding of chemistry on Mars and the first comprehensive study of the plasma surrounding the planet.

Since the insertion into orbit of Mars Express, several other missions have joined their effort. Still, MarsEx leverages unique capabilities to conduct its investigations:

Development of a near-global digital elevation model with twice the resolution of previous products, which is becoming the new standard for quantitative geomorphological studies. An extension to the end of 2025 would allow the remaining gaps to be filled and produce high-quality color and stereo maps for the entire world. These maps are necessary to determine long-term volcanic rates, the past and present global water balance, and to locate all climate-related landforms.

The high eccentricity of the Mars Express orbit makes it the only mission capable of measuring the solar wind over a wide region near Mars; this, combined with the mission MAVEN, provides a unique network for studying the interaction of the solar wind with the Martian atmosphere. For the same reason, Mars Express has a unique vantage point to study the moon Phobos, a sample of which will be returned to Earth by the next mission. JAXA Mars Moon eXplorer (MMX).

The discovery of potential liquid water in the subsurface of the south polar ice cap is of immense astrobiological and geological interest. The next extension offers optimal conditions to revisit this region and consolidate this finding.

As with Earth, the climate time series on Mars are only as good as their length, and MarsExpress, due to many years of observation, has a longer and still increasing series of major climate parameters. Expanding on this dataset would offer a unique opportunity to help solve a major Mars climate mystery embedded in its interannual variability, namely the unpredictable occurrence of global dust storms.

I invite you to listen to Ricardo Amils, Emeritus Professor of Microbiology at the Autonomous University of Madrid and Senior Researcher at the Center for Astrobiology.

References:

Mars Express, investigating the Red Planet

Dark biosphere. We speak with Ricardo Amils.

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