2024-04-07 16:56:49
More than 20 years ago, the “Mars Express” probe began its journey to the Red Planet. From there she took impressive photos of the moon and earth.
The images were taken on the occasion of the space probe’s 20th anniversary on June 2, 2023, it is said. From Mars they show how the moon orbits the Earth. The distance between the Earth and the Red Planet, around which the probe orbits, was around 300 million kilometers.
According to Esa, the images were post-processed to correct image distortion and overexposure. Because they haven’t completely managed to remove the image distortions, the earth looks slightly out of round.
“Mars Express” photographs the surface of Mars
The European probe “Mars Express” has been providing impressive images of the surface of the Red Planet since it was launched 20 years ago. Since then, astronomers have been putting the transmitted images together piece by piece like a puzzle and creating a global map of Mars.
It was also radar data from the European probe that confirmed researchers’ suspicions that there could be liquid water under the ice of the Martian polar ice caps – similar to the underground lakes of Antarctica and Greenland on Earth.
Mission extended until the end of 2026
In 2004, Esa was able to detect traces of methane in the Martian atmosphere using equipment on board the “Mars Express”. In 2017, the space agency published images of the North Pole ice cap of the planet Mars. The images show snow-covered hills crisscrossed by deep ditches.
The primary mission of the Mars Express probe was originally designed for 23 months, but has since been repeatedly extended. According to current status, the mission is scheduled to run until the end of 2026 – with the option of a further extension.