[Space] ESA - Mars Express Mission - Update thread [Archivio]

GioFX

19-01-2004, 16:39

LA PRIMA FOTO DI MARS EXPRESS!

Europe's eye on Mars: first spectacular results from Mars Express

http://www.esa.int/export/images/esa-MediaReleaseHRSC_FINAL,1.jpg
Europe's first close-up image of Mars

ESA PR 05-2004. ESA's Mars Express, successfully inserted into orbit around Mars on 25 December 2003, is about to reach its final operating orbit above the poles of the Red Planet. The scientific investigation has just started and the first results already look very promising, as this first close-up image shows.

Although the seven scientific instruments on board Mars Express are still undergoing a thorough calibration phase, they have already started collecting amazing results. The first high-resolution images and spectra of Mars have already been acquired.
This first spectacular stereoscopic colour picture was taken on 14 January 2004 by ESA’s Mars Express satellite from 275 km above the surface of Mars by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). This image is available on the ESA Portal at: http://mars.esa.int

The picture shows a portion of a 1700 km long and 65 km wide swath which was taken in south-north direction across the Grand Canyon of Mars (Valles Marineris). It is the first image of this size that shows the surface of Mars in high resolution (12 metres per pixel), in colour, and in 3D. The total area of the image on the Martian surface (top left corner) corresponds to 120 000 km². The lower part of the picture shows the same region in perspective view as if seen from a low-flying aircraft. This perspective view was generated on a computer from the original image data. One looks at a landscape which has been predominantly shaped by the erosional action of water. Millions of cubic kilometres of rock have been removed, and the surface features seen now such as mountain ranges, valleys, and mesas, have been formed.

The HRSC is just one of the instruments to have collected exciting data. To learn more about the very promising beginning to ESA's scientific exploration of Mars, media representatives are invited to attend a press conference on Friday, 23 January 2004, at 11:00 CET at ESA’s Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, and in video-conference with the other ESA centres.

There, under the auspices of ESA Council Chair, Germany's Minister for Education and Research, Mrs Edelgard Bulmahn, ESA's Director of the Scientific Programme, Prof. David Southwood and the Principal Investigators of all instruments on board Mars Express will present the first data and preliminary results.

Also a spectacular, three-dimensional video sequence, featuring famous landmarks on the surface of Mars 'as seen through European eyes' will be unveiled for the first time on Friday 23 January.

19 January 2004

Picture taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express orbiter on 14 January 2004 under the responsibility of the Principal Investigator Prof. Gerhard Neukum. It was processed by the Institute for Planetary Research of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), also involved in the development of the camera, and by the Institute of Geosciences of the Freie Universität Berlin.
It shows a portion of a 1700 km long and 65 km wide swath which was taken in south-north direction across the Grand Canyon of Mars (Valles Marineris) from two perspectives. It is the first image of this size that shows the surface of Mars in high resolution (12 metres per pixel), in colour and in 3D.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

High resolution JPG (750 kB): http://www.esa.int/export/externals/images/esa-MediaReleaseHRSC_FINAL.jpg

High resolution TIFF (17.666 kB): http://www.esa.int/export/externals/images/esa-MediaReleaseHRSC_FINAL.tiff

Wallpaper (1024x768): http://www.esa.int/export/mex_mm/images/wallpaper_HRSC_image_1024x768.jpg

GioFX

19-01-2004, 23:11

Cioè dico, la più bella e ad alta definizione foto di Marte e non ve ne frega una mazza?

Vabbè...

Mars Express Sends Back First High-Resolution Pictures of Planet

By Peter de Selding
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 01:00 pm ET
19 January 2004

PARIS-- Europe's Mars Express satellite has produced a color 3D image of the Red Planet's surface, a rugged area near the planet's equator called the Grand Canyon of Mars, or Valles Marineris .

The image, released by the European Space Agency on Jan. 19, shows a landscape that appears to resemble Earth's Grand Canyon, with deep valleys gouged out of the surface rock by water that scientists now suspect may have migrated beneath Mars' surface and remain in the form of ice.

The ESA described the first pictures, shot at a resolution of 12 meters (39 feet) per pixel, as "very promising."

The image, it said, shows "a landscape which has been predominantly shaped by the erosional action of water," with surface features including mountain ranges, valleys and mesas

The picture was taken Jan. 14 by the Mars Express High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). It shows an area 1057 miles (1,700 km) long and about 41 miles (65 km) wide that was captured by the HRSC as the satellite flew at an altitude of 171 miles (275 km).

HRSC is one of seven observing instruments on Mars Express. The satellite's radar imager, to be activated in April, is designed to penetrate several kilometers beneath the surface of the planet to hunt for water sources.

Mars Express is set to orbit the planet for at least one Martian year -- almost two Earth years.

The orbiter carries two-thirds of the European Mars mission's experiments, among them instruments that will search for ultraviolet atmosphere.

Carrying its companion Beagle 2 lander, Mars Express was launched last June from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The lander, released toward the surface by the orbiter Dec. 19, hasn't been heard from since its own scheduled landing on Christmas Day.

GioFX

19-01-2004, 23:15

La prima foto:

http://www.space.com/images/h_marsexpress_firstpic_02.jpg

Picture taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter on 14 January 2004. It shows an area 1057 miles (1,700 km) long and about 41 miles (65 km) wide that was captured by the HRSC as the satellite flew at an altitude of 171 miles (275 km). CREDIT: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

http://www.space.com/images/h_marsexpress_firstpic3D_02.jpg

This image shows the Valles Marineris region in perspective view as if seen from a low-flying aircraft. This perspective view was generated on a computer from the original first image data. CREDIT: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

jumpermax

19-01-2004, 23:22

come non ci interessa... sto scaricando il jpeg grosso... cmq 12 metri per pixel mi sembrano tanti... quanto è grande l'area ripresa?

GioFX

20-01-2004, 00:02

Originariamente inviato da jumpermax
come non ci interessa... sto scaricando il jpeg grosso... cmq 12 metri per pixel mi sembrano tanti... quanto è grande l'area ripresa?

1700 km x 65 km

e non è la massima risoluzione...

jumpermax

20-01-2004, 00:07

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
1700 km x 65 km

e non è la massima risoluzione...
non ti sembra un po' tanto però? se davvero ad ogni pixel corrispondono 2 metri o la foto è interpolata o il sensore "equivalente" è di 732Mpixel.... molto probabile è vero che sia uno stitch... cmq con un sensore da 3 megapixel sarebbero circa 250 foto...

jumpermax

20-01-2004, 00:12

ah ok non è una fotocamera
http://berlinadmin.dlr.de/Missions/express/kamera/kameraeng.shtml

GioFX

20-01-2004, 00:40

Originariamente inviato da jumpermax
ah ok non è una fotocamera
http://berlinadmin.dlr.de/Missions/express/kamera/kameraeng.shtml

è una camera stereoscopica.

Ora dobbiamo aspettare l'uso del radar italiano MARSIS per la ricerca dell'acqua sotto la superficie del pianeta.

jumpermax

20-01-2004, 00:55

ci ho messo mezz'ora a capire come accidenti è girata quella immagine! dunque quella in fondo è la "foto" e quella in basso la ricostruzione 3D del suolo giusto? Messa così sembra quasi un disegno cappero!

ominiverdi

20-01-2004, 00:55

mhh, sta a vedere che ci sara' qualcuno che anche in queste foto tira fuori i famosi "volti" marziani

in allegato ho ingrandito una porzione di questa foto http://www.esa.int/export/externals/images/esa-MediaReleaseHRSC_FINAL.jpg , la parte in basso a destra, che effettivamente sembra un po' un volto con tanto di capelli :D

qualche colpo di photoshop, e via ad alimentare nuovi misteri di marte

GioFX

20-01-2004, 01:29

Originariamente inviato da jumpermax
ci ho messo mezz'ora a capire come accidenti è girata quella immagine! dunque quella in fondo è la "foto" e quella in basso la ricostruzione 3D del suolo giusto? Messa così sembra quasi un disegno cappero!

Yes

GioFX

20-01-2004, 01:30

Originariamente inviato da ominiverdi
la parte in basso a destra, che effettivamente sembra un po' un volto con tanto di capelli :D

OMFG, ma è la tipa dell'avatar!

ominiverdi

20-01-2004, 01:34

no, a me rassomiglia piu' a un presidente di "una repubblica", non dico quale :sofico:

GioFX

20-01-2004, 01:37

Originariamente inviato da ominiverdi
no, a me rassomiglia piu' a un presidente di "una repubblica", non dico quale :sofico:

eheh

GioFX

23-01-2004, 11:43

European spacecraft detects ice at Martian pole

DARMSTADT, Germany (AFP) Jan 23, 2004

The European orbiter Mars Express has detected frozen water at Mars' South Pole, mission officials said here Friday.
"We have identified water ice on the South Pole," Vittorio Formisano, a European Space Agency (ESA) scientist, said, unveiling preliminary data garnered by the unmanned spacecraft.

The announcement at a press conference at the Mars Express mission headquarters backs the strong indications provided by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter in March 2002.

It suggested that the planet's southern polar cap contains abundant stores of water ice.

NASA's evidence came from big signals from Odyssey's gamma ray spectrometer of the presence of hydrogen, one component of water.

The Red Planet's northern ice cap is already thought to contain water ice, along with frozen carbon dioxide, the substance also known as dry ice.

Water, in its liquid form, is one of the ingredients for nurturing and sustaining life, and Mars is considered to be the best bet for this outside Earth.

ni.jo

23-01-2004, 11:46

http://lanazione.it/art/2004/01/23/5120187

beh, la gufata di fabio69 si è rigirata come una frittata.:D

Sonda europea trova l'acqua
Spirit non risponde ancora

Svolta nelle esplorazioni spaziali. La sonda europea ha trovato presenze di ghiaccio sul Pianeta Rosso.
*SCOPERTA STORICA Secondo Vittorio Formisano, dell'Agenzia spaziale europea, la sonda 'Mars Express', in orbita intorno al pianeta rosso, ha rilevato la presenza di acqua ghiacciata nel polo sud.
*IL SILENZIO - Intanto continua il silenzio di Spirit. Il centro di controllo della missione della sonda Spirit su Marte ha perso contatto con il robot inviato sulla superficie del pianeta, probabilmente a causa di un guasto "molto grave"

ominiverdi

23-01-2004, 12:01

europa - usa 1-0 :D

ma mi chiedo, possibile che la nasa, con tutte le varie missioni, sonde, telescopi hubble ecc., non abbia mai scoperto prima questa cosa? :confused:

si sono fatti fregare dai novellini europei, che smacco di immagine!!! :D

edit:
poi anche in diverse foto di hubble al polo sud si vede una macchia bianca azzurrina, che potrebbe benissimo far pensare a ghiacciai! e' la stessa zona, giusto?

alex10

23-01-2004, 12:02

Eccola
http://www.esa.int/export/images/treacque400a,0.jpg

23 January 2004
OMEGA observed the southern polar cap of Mars on 18 January 2004, as seen on all three bands. The right one represents the visible image, the middle one the CO2 (carbon dioxide) ice and the left one the H2O (water) ice.

alex10

23-01-2004, 12:04

High Res.
http://www.esa.int/export/externals/images/Omega_first.jpg

ni.jo

23-01-2004, 12:08

bello, sembra uno di quei cazzilli che appendono nelle esposizioni di mobili di design.:D

Arësius

23-01-2004, 12:08

nuovo fondino :D

GioFX

23-01-2004, 12:14

Originariamente inviato da ominiverdi
europa - usa 1-0 :D

ma mi chiedo, possibile che la nasa, con tutte le varie missioni, sonde, telescopi hubble ecc., non abbia mai scoperto prima questa cosa? :confused:

si sono fatti fregare dai novellini europei, che smacco di immagine!!! :D

edit:
poi anche in diverse foto di hubble al polo sud si vede una macchia bianca azzurrina, che potrebbe benissimo far pensare a ghiacciai! e' la stessa zona, giusto?

Era già noto da tempo la presenza di ghiaccio al polo nord, mentre non si aveva conferma del polo sud... il problema è il tipo di ghiaccio: ghiaccio secco di anidride carbonica o ghiaccio di idrogeno (quindi acqua)... quella di ME è in parte una scoperta e in parte una conferma... conferma perchè già l'Odyssey nel 2002 vide una vasta zona coperta da ghiacci al polo sud, scoperta perchè ora si sa chè è proprio ghiaccio composto di idrogeno, e quindi è acqua.

ME infatti è in grado di riconoscere la composizione del ghiaccio con un particolare strumento, l'OMEGA e l'FPS, appunto.

ME cmq avrà anche il difficile compito di cercare sotto il suolo di Marte acqua allo stato liquido, cosa che si pensa sia molto probabile, e tutto questo con strumenti italiani e tedeschi.

GioFX

23-01-2004, 12:18

23 January 2004

ESA PR 06-2004. Mars Express, ESA’s first mission to Mars, will reach its final orbit on 28 January. It has already been producing stunning results since its first instrument was switched on, on 5 January. The significance of the first data was emphasised by the scientists at a European press conference today at ESA’s Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany.

"I did not expect to be able to gather together - just one month after the Mars Orbit Insertion of 25 December – so many happy scientists eager to present their first results", said Professor David Southwood, ESA Director of Science. One of the main targets of the Mars Express mission is to discover the presence of water in one of its chemical states. Through the initial mapping of the South polar cap on 18 January, OMEGA, the combined camera and infrared spectrometer, has already revealed the presence of water ice and carbon dioxide ice.

This information was confirmed by the PFS, a new high-resolution spectrometer of unprecedented accuracy. The first PFS data also show that the carbon oxide distribution is different in the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars.
The MaRS instrument, a sophisticated radio transmitter and receiver, emitted a first signal successfully on 21 January that was received on Earth through a 70- metre antenna in Australia after it was reflected and scattered from the surface of Mars. This new measurement technique allows the detection of the chemical composition of the Mars atmosphere, ionosphere and surface.

ASPERA, a plasma and energetic neutral atoms analyser, is aiming to answer the fundamental question of whether the solar wind erosion led to the present lack of water on Mars. The preliminary results show a difference in the characteristics between the impact of the solar wind area and the measurement made in the tail of Mars. Another exciting experiment was run by the SPICAM instrument (an ultraviolet and infrared spectrometer) during the first star occultation ever made at Mars. It has simultaneously measured the distribution of the ozone and water vapour, which has never been done before, revealing that there is more water vapour where there is less ozone.

ESA also presented astonishing pictures produced with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). They represent the outcome of 1.87 million km2 of Martian surface coverage, and about 100 gigabytes of processed data. This camera was also able to make the longest swath (up to 4000 km) and largest area in combination with high resolution ever taken in the exploration of the Solar System.

This made it possible to create an impressive picture 24 metres long by 1.3 metres high, which was carried through the conference room at the end of the press event by a group of 10-year-old children.

Mrs Edelgard Bulmahn, German Minister for Research and Education, who is also chair of the ESA Council at Ministerial level, said at the press conference: "Europe can be proud of this mission: Mars Express is an enormous success for the European Space Programme."

gegeg

23-01-2004, 12:47

Urra' !:yeah: :yeah: ci voleva un bella notizia dopo quelle brutte !:O

ominiverdi

23-01-2004, 13:01

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
Era già noto da tempo la presenza di ghiaccio al polo nord, mentre non si aveva conferma del polo sud... il problema è il tipo di ghiaccio: ghiaccio secco di anidride carbonica o ghiaccio di idrogeno (quindi acqua)... quella di ME è in parte una scoperta e in parte una conferma... conferma perchè già l'Odyssey nel 2002 vide una vasta zona coperta da ghiacci al polo sud, scoperta perchè ora si sa chè è proprio ghiaccio composto di idrogeno, e quindi è acqua.

ME infatti è in grado di riconoscere la composizione del ghiaccio con un particolare strumento, l'OMEGA e l'FPS, appunto.

ME cmq avrà anche il difficile compito di cercare sotto il suolo di Marte acqua allo stato liquido, cosa che si pensa sia molto probabile, e tutto questo con strumenti italiani e tedeschi.

ottima precisazione, thnx ;)

GioFX

23-01-2004, 13:33

Mars Express Confirms Water Ice on Red Planet

By Associated Press
posted: 08:00 am ET
23 January 2004

DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) -- Europe's Mars orbiter has confirmed the presence of water in the form of ice on the Red Planet's surface for the first time, the European Space Agency said Friday.

Mars Express, circling high above the surface, made the discovery on the planet's south pole, agency scientist Allen Moorehouse said.

"You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint and say this is water ice," Moorehouse said. ``This is the first time it's been detected on the ground. This is the first direct confirmation."

If Mars once had surface water, it could have the potential to support life -- though Moorehouse, the project's manager of spacecraft operations, cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions.

Agency officials said that their discovery confirmed something that scientists long suspected.

"It's been looked at for such a long time and it's been inferred there was water" at the south pole, said Jean-Pierre Bibring of the European Space Agency.

Bibring said the evidence was vapors of water molecules detected by the infrared camera aboard the Mars Express circling the planet.

"This is the first time we can really see vapors of the molecules themselves,'' Bibring said.

jimmytf

23-01-2004, 13:45

notizia stupenda!!!!!! secondo me storica. :)

anche l'europa ci sa fare visto....sono molto orgoglioso. :)

crespo80

23-01-2004, 14:14

alla fine, del robottino NASA che è riuscito a comunicare per qualche giorno con la terra alla facciazza del beagle2, rimmarà qualche bella foto e nulla più

Mentre questa data dal Mars Express, al di là di tutte la altre che potrà dare, è già una notizia storica

:)

gpc

23-01-2004, 14:21

Guarda che non è esploso... :rolleyes:

Gyxx

23-01-2004, 14:28

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Guarda che non è esploso... :rolleyes:

Esatto. Sono stati i FACISTI, già summarte da un po ;) :D che lo hanno catturato scambiandolo x un lagnoso bolscevico :D :p

http://digilander.libero.it/scadigil/fermati.jpg

GioFX

23-01-2004, 14:41

European spacecraft unveils Mars' watery past

DARMSTADT, Germany (AFP) Jan 23, 2004

Data relayed from Europe's brand-new mission to Mars gave dramatic backing on Friday to theories that the Red Planet was once awash with water, one of the precious ingredients for life.
First results from the unmanned spacecraft Mars Express sketched the vision of a planet whose surface was once sculpted by seas and glaciers and confirms indications that its South Pole is capped by frozen water.

That boosts hopes that big reserves of ice may lie beneath the surface, providing fuel and sustenance for a future manned mission, European Space Agency (ESA) officials said.

The agency's scientists were cock-a-hoop, for the instrument-packed orbiter only took up position off Mars on December 25 and the mission was struggling to overcome the disappearance of a small lander, Beagle 2.

"We have identified water ice on the South Pole," ESA scientist Vittorio Formisano, declared.

The ice is not covered by frozen carbon dioxide (CO2), unlike the Martian North Pole, where US spacecraft have detected a mixture of CO2 and frozen water.

And, said astrophycist Jean-Pierre Bibring, every indication was that the newly-found ice was year-round and did not come and go with the Martian summer and winter.

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, in March 2002, gave strong indications that there was water ice on the southern pole.

It used a gammma ray spectrometer, which detected hydrogen, which with oxygen makes up water.

Mars Express' data amounts to a confirmation, for it arrives at the same conclusion but by a different technique: a spectrometer that analyses visible and infrared light rather than the gamma part of the energy spectrum.

Its instrument, Omega, uses as its source sunlight that is reflected from the planet's surface and atmosphere.

Other images sent back by Mars Express add meat to skeletal evidence that billions of years ago Mars was awash with water.

But as the planet cooled, the surface water froze or evaporated into space through a thinning atmosphere, the theory goes.

However, some may have remained frozen in the soil or trapped in underground reservoirs, as well as at the poles, according to this notion.

High-resolution images taken by a sophisticated camera of 1.87 million square kilometers (0.75 million sq. miles) "confirms the former occurrence and erosional activity" of water on the Martian surface, said ESA scientist Gerhard Neukum.

A large crater, Hecates Tholus, also showed signs of past glaciation, he said.

Liquid water is of far more interest to biologists than ice.

It is at the right temperature at which some elements dissolve and react, helping to create the process for initiating and sustaining life.

One theory holds that if there is subsurface ice, heat from the planet's core may be warm enough to keep some of that water in liquid form.

This would explain intriguing gullies and valleys that have been interpreted as being recently formed by water. But there is no conclusion yet as to whether Mars is still geothermally active.

Alternatively, ice that is close to the surface might be melted by climate change -- Mars has a slight wobble in its axis that means it goes through periods of cooling and warming -- or by seasonal factors.

If the ice lies just below the surface in latitudes close to the equator, it could melt during the Martian summer, according to this speculation.

Mars Express Flight Director Mike McKay said the southern polar icecap extended down to about 80 degrees latitude, which meant it was not very big.

But, he said, "This [finding] strengthens hope of finding subterranean ice and even liquid water on the surface of Mars."

Plans by ESA and NASA to send humans to Mars would get a boost if that were the case.

"Accessible water ice would provide one of the essential elements for this mission," because hydrogen could be derived from it as a fuel and water would be needed for the crew's survival, McKay said.

GioFX

23-01-2004, 14:48

Le foto scattate dall'HRSC (High Resolution Stereo Camera):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/sci_nat_enl_1074861476/img/1.jpg

23 January 2004
This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA’s Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 18 on 14 January 2004 from a height of 275 km. The location is south of Valles Marineris at 15° South and 323° East. The resolution is 12 m per pixel, the area is 50 km across and shows a tectonically controlled karst-like structure in a vertical view. North is at top.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/sci_nat_enl_1074861634/img/1.jpg

23 January 2004
This picture was taken by the High Resolution Camera (HRSC) aboard ESA's Mars Express, in colour and 3D, during orbit 18 on 14 January 2004 from a height of 275 km. The location is in Valles Marineris at 5° North and 323° East. The area is 50 km across, at a resolution of 12 m per pixel, and shows mesas and cliffs as well as flow features which indicate erosion by the action of flowing water. The landscape is seen in a vertical view, with north at the bottom.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/sci_nat_enl_1074861704/img/1.jpg

This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 18 on 14 January 2004. It shows a vertical view of a mesa in the true colours of Mars. The summit plateau stands about 3 km above the surrounding terrain. The original surface was dissected by erosion, only isolated mesas remained intact. The large crater has a diameter of 7.6 km

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/sci_nat_enl_1074861807/img/1.jpg

23 January 2004
This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 18 on 15 January 2004 from a height of 273 km. The location is east of the Hellas basin at 41° South and 101° East. The area is 100 km across, with a resolution of 12 m per pixel, and shows a channel (Reull Vallis) once formed by flowing water. The landscape is seen in a vertical view, North is at the top.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/sci_nat_enl_1074861871/img/1.jpg

23 January 2004
This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 32 on 19 January 2004. It shows a three-dimensional oblique view of the summit caldera of Albor Tholus, a volcano in the Elysium region. The caldera has a diameter of 30 km and a depth of 3 km. The volcano as a whole has a diameter of 160 km and a height of 4.5 km. This is geologically interesting, since the depth of the caldera approaches the height of the volcano, which is unusual on Earth. On the far left rim of the caldera, a bright 'dust fall' seems to flow from the surrounding plateau into the caldera.

fabio69

23-01-2004, 14:50

Originariamente inviato da crespo80
alla fine, del robottino NASA che è riuscito a comunicare per qualche giorno con la terra alla facciazza del beagle2, rimmarà qualche bella foto e nulla più

Mentre questa data dal Mars Express, al di là di tutte la altre che potrà dare, è già una notizia storica

:)

guarda che la notizia di ghiaccio dacqua al polo sud è vecchia
da decenni si parlava proprio di una sua possibile presenza al polo sud, perchè durante l'estate marziana al polo sud appunto marte si trova alla minima distanza dal sole e la temperatura si alzava di quel tanto da far evaporare tutta l'anidride carbonica allo stato solido (cd ghiaccio secco) e quello che rimaneva doveva essere appunto acqua, allo stato ghiacciato ovviamente
il problema poi era trovarla in altri punti del pianeta che non fossero i poli
ma già mars odissey della nasa aveeva accertato una volta per tuttte la presenza sicura di ghiaccio d'acqua ai poli:

http://www.informiamo.com/newspazio/marteghiaccio.htm
Gli spettrometri IR della Mars Odyssey sono riusciti a individuare "l'impronta" caratteristica del ghiaccio d'acqua anche nei pressi della regione polare sud del pianeta.
È quanto rivelano i più recenti risultati in pubblicazione su Science. La sonda aveva già confermato la presenza di ingenti quantità di ghiaccio d'acqua (o meglio, la traccia dell'idrogeno legato all'ossigeno nel gruppo ossidrile, probabilmente dovuto agli ossidrili dell'acqua) al polo nord e in altre estese zone di Marte, ma la regione polare sud sembrava ricoperta soltanto da ghiacci d'anidride carbonica.
È possibile che in realtà una grande quantità di ghiaccio d'acqua si trovi sepolta anche al polo sud, coperta da un sottile strato di ghiaccio secco d'anidride carbonica, e formi uno strato esteso da 1 a 10 km all'esterno.
Sembra quindi che il ghiaccio d'acqua sia presente ovunque sulla superficie di Marte, anche se finora non si sono ottenute prove definitive sull'esistenza di acqua allo stato liquido.
Le gole sinuose simili ad alvei di cascate individuate un paio d'anni fa dall'altra sonda in orbita attorno a Marte, la Mars Global Surveyor, potrebbero infatti essere state scavate da scivolamenti di morene di ghiaccio secco, piuttosto che da improbabili affioramenti d'acqua effimeri.
Da segnalare che nuovi studi mettono in dubbio la presenza d'acqua
"permanente" anche nel passato di Marte: i grandi canali che solcano la superficie del pianeta sono infatti privi di affluenti secondari, come invece hanno i grandi fiumi terrestri. Un segno interpretabile come transitorietà dei climi temperati, causati da riscaldamenti dovuti a periodici sconvolgimenti climatici (in seguito a bombardamenti meteorici, oscillazioni dell'asse di rotazione, ecc.), ma troppo brevi per garantire la formazione di corsi d'acqua geologicamente "maturi" e, con tutta probabilità, per poter innescare lo sviluppo di qualche forma di vita. Marte
sarebbe sì un pianeta talora "umido", ma dal destino irrimediabilmente freddo e secco.

http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Scienze_e_Tecnologie/2003/02_Febbraio/23/marte.shtml

Esse sono il frutto delle osservazioni della sonda Mars Odissey in orbita marziana.

Marte clicca su una foto per andare alla galleria

GHIACCIO AI POLI: E' ACQUA - Anche al Polo Sud, come si riteneva già per il Polo Nord, la calotta ghiacciata sarebbe formata da ghiaccio d'acqua e non da ghiaccio secco, cioè anidride carbonica ghiacciata. La sonda continua a rilevare tracce di idrogeno che - secondo i planetologi - rappresenta la firma della presenza del ghiaccio d'acqua. Entrambi i poli marziani si espandono e si restringono a seconda delle stagioni e quello nella calotta australe ha una superficie sempre inferiore a quella boreale. La notizia del ghiaccio d'acqua al polo sud ha creato qualche disappunto fra i sostenitori del futuro progetto di Terraforming, con il quale si intenderebbe trasformare l'attuale ambiente marziano in modo tale da renderlo simile alla Terra e quindi abitabile per l'uomo senza grandi difficoltà.

http://www.enel.it/magazine/boiler/arretrati/boiler80/html/articoli/Bertolani-Marte.asp
SPAZIO
Marte, secondo Odissey il ghiaccio abbonda

di Michela Bertolani

MARS ODISSEY, la navetta spaziale staccatasi dalla Terra undici mesi or sono, ha identificato su Marte – sia sopra che appena sotto la superficie – quelle che sembrano essere grandi quantità di ghiaccio, in una vasta area che parte dal Polo Sud e sale fino a circa 60 gradi di latitudine sud. La nuova scoperta potrebbe confermare la convinzione di molti scienziati, secondo i quali sul Pianeta Rosso esiste l'acqua, e dare così nuova spinta alla ricerca di vita marziana. Odyssey, lanciata dalla Nasa nell'aprile del 2001, sette mesi dopo è entrata nell'orbita di Marte – a una distanza di circa trecento chilometri – da dove ha iniziato a inviare sulla Terra fotografie e altre osservazioni scientifiche del pianeta, nel febbraio di quest'anno

Ghiaccio esposto trovato vicino al Polo Sud di Marte
Gli scienziati hanno trovato ghiaccio d'acqua in superficie al polo sud di Marte.
di Vanessa Thomas

http://www.mosac.com/astronomia/articoli/index.php?name=ghiaccio_marte.html
I dati dalle due sonde in orbita attorno a Marte hanno fornito la prima traccia di ghiaccio d'acqua esposto nei pressi della perenne calotta polare Sud del Pianeta Rosso. Gli scienziati hanno precedentemente identificato ghiaccio d'acqua nella calotta polare Nord e grandi quantita' di ghiaccio sotterraneo presso entrambi i poli, ma questo e' il primo ghiaccio di superficie trovato al polo sud.

La scoperta e' stata fatta con immagini del Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) della Mars Odissey e con i dati di temperatura della veterana Mars Global Surveyor.

I ricercatori dell'U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) e dell'Universita' dell'Arizona hanno presentato i risultati Domenica al meeting dell'American Geophysical Union e nel numero del 6 Dicembre di Science.

Le immagini di THEMIS prese vicino al polo sud marziano durante l'ultima estate hanno rivelato un'interessante regione che appariva essere piu' fredda di quanto atteso a causa dell'esposzione al Sole.

"Quando abbiamo visto le immagini di THEMIS per la prima volta, abbiamo notato che le aree scure non avevano tutte la stessa temperatura. Cio' suggeriva la presenza di materiali differenti tra i quali probabilmente anche ghiaccio d'acqua," spiega Timothy Titus, autore e scienziato dell'USGS.

Titus e i suoi colleghi hanno consultato le osservazioni delle temperature fornite dal TES delle medesime aree. I dati del TES hanno mostrato comportamenti differenti in unita' geologiche adiacenti una volta scomparso il ghiaccio stagionale di diossido di carbonio. Il team in seguito ha usato un modello di temperatura per determinare che tipo di materiale potesse essere presente nelle diverse unita'.

Una regione allungata, chiamata Unita' I, si riscaldava lentamente e rimaneva ad una temperatura stabile (circa -90 gradi Fahrenheit o -70 gradi Celsius). "La differenza tra le temperature diurne e notturne era minima, un altro elemento che suggeriva la presenza di ghiaccio d'acqua," dice Titus.

In contrasto, una vicina area scura, chiamata Unita' S, si riscaldava velocemente e le sue temperature variavano di molto tra la notte e il giorno. Tali variazioni di temperatura corrispondevano al modello di uno strato di ghiaccio d'acqua ricoperto da 2 - 7 millimetri di polvere.

I ricercatori credono che questa scoperta e altre simili incrementeranno la nostra conoscenza del ciclo idrologico marziano favorendone l'esplorazione. "L'acqua ghiacciata, in superficie o in prossimita' della stessa, e' disponibile per interazioni di superficie e scambi con l'atmosfera," scrivono su Science. Essi aggiungono che "il ghiaccio sara' probabilmente accessibile da future sonde robotiche e, infine, dall'esplorazione umana".

http://www.edicolaweb.net/new_014g.htm
GHIACCIO SOTTO LA SUPERFICIE DI MARTE
IDROGENO SEGNALATO DALLA SONDA "ODISSEA"

http://www.edicolaweb.net/new_014g.jpg

Il colore blu indica dove si trova l’idrogeno segnalato dallo spettrometro della sonda "Odissea

http://www.theblueplanet.ch/infocenter/articoli/luglio2003/marte_polo_nord_acqua_02072003.htm

Altra acqua su Marte

Ghiaccio in prossimità del polo nord marziano

Su Marte più acqua di quanta si stimassee
(HST)

Nemmeno un anno fa, la sonda Mars Odyssey aveva scoperto che il pianeta rosso possiede grandi riserve di ghiaccio nel sottosuolo nei pressi del polo sud. Gli scienziati della NASA avevano stimato che ce ne fosse abbastanza da riempire due volte il lago Michigan, e che non si trattasse che della punta di un iceberg.

Ora, nuove osservazioni di Mars Odyssey e della navetta Mars Global Surveyor suggeriscono che anche il polo nord del pianeta nasconda una grande quantità di ghiacci, quasi un terzo in più del polo sud. Sotto una crosta di terreno secco, sembra esserci uno strato di suolo permanentemente congelato che consiste al 75 per cento di ghiaccio.

continuate pure la vostra discussione e mi raccomando trasformatela nel solito sciocchezzaio tipo europa 1 usa 0, con le pseudoscoperte europee che tali non sono :rolleyes:

ni.jo

23-01-2004, 14:53

Darmstadt, 23 gen 2004 - 15:19
Marte, Spirit si rifà vivo. Sonda Ue trova l'acqua

Marte in copertina. Il robot americano Spirit, in silenzio da mercoledì, si è rifatto vivo oggi per una decina di minuti. I suoi segnali sono stati captati da un rete di rilevamenteo che si trova in Spagna. Esultanza alla Nasa dove poco prima avevano accolto con soddisfazione anche la notizia arrivata dal centro dell'ente spaziale europeo di Darmstadt, in Germania, che ha annunciato la presenza di acqua su Marte, sotto forma di ghiaccio, al polo sud.

La conferma è arrivata dalla sonda europea Mars Express che dal mese scorso orbita attorno a Marte dopo aver lanciato - e perso - sul pianeta il robot di superficie Beagle 2. "Abbiamo identificato dell'acqua sotto forma di ghiaccio al polo sud di Marte", ha detto Vittorio Formisano, uno dei responsabili della missione Mars Express.

E' una conferma, dunque, dato che già nel giugno del 2002, la sonda della Nasa, "Mars Odissey", aveva raccolto indizi che suggerivano la presenza di acqua ghiacciata su Marte. I suoi strumenti avevano rivelato grandi quantità di idrogeno all'interno di uno strato superficiale di circa un metro.

Questa scoperta aveva permesso di parlare di acqua perché, alla temperatura bassissima alla quale l'idrogeno liquefa (-259 gradi centigradi) non poteva trovarsi allo stato liquido o solido sulla superficie marziana esposta al sole. L'idrogeno osservato doveva dunque essere legato ai minerali superficiali del pianeta, oppure - e questa era l'ipotesi più probabile - all'ossigeno con il quale aveva formato acqua ghiacciata.

Ma come funziona il sistema di rilevamento a distanza? Dalla sua orbita, la sonda è in grado cercare l'acqua fino a un paio di chilometri di profondità - a fronte di una profondità di appena un metro esplorata da Mars Odyssey - utilizzando un'antenna lunga circa 40 metri che emette onde radio a bassa frequenza. Le onde sono in parte riflesse dalla superficie e, in una frazione minore, da strati più profondi composti. Quando le onde radio incontrano sul loro cammino una traccia di acqua, l'eco viene raccolta, studiata, interpretata. Si tratta di un sistema utilizzato anche sulla Terra per cercare nel sottosuolo acqua, ma anche mine antiuomo.

La presenza dell'acqua su Marte è un passo fondamentale per la ricerca della vita extraterrestre. E anche per i piani, annunciati la settimana scorsa dal presidente statunitense George W. Bush che prevedono la realizzazione di una base sul pianeta rosso entro il 2020.(red)

gpc

23-01-2004, 14:53

Molto belle le foto...
I colori sembrano un po' "plasticoni" però, non trovi?

X fabio:
sono d'accordo sostanzialmente con quello che dici, ma non cadere nell'errore opposto, secondo me non è da minimizzare la missione europea.
Inutile dire cosa penso dei commentini "ecco, dopo qualche giorno s'è già rotto il giochino, invece l'europa sì..." :nono:

FastFreddy

23-01-2004, 14:55

Nuove, sconcertanti immagini dal suolo marziano! :eek: :eekk: :eek: :eekk:

http://homepage.mac.com/spaderunner/.Public/mars.jpg

:D :D :D :D :D :sofico:

GioFX

23-01-2004, 14:56

fabio, non era necessario che postassi quell'intutile papiro... già l'ho dette quelle cose prima...

Si sapeva della presenza di ghiaccio misto CO2-H2 al polo nord, mentre si ipotizzava la presenza di ghiaccio di idrogeno al polo sud, ma si pensava essere misto con C02, come al nord. Odyssey nel 2002 ha dato una prima conferma della presenza di idrogeno, ma solo oggi si è scoperto che è proprio giacchio di idrogeno e per la prima volta sono state osservate molecole d'acqua in sospensione nel visibile e nel infrarosso, e non solo (come ha fatto Odyssey) nello spettro gamma, grazie algli spettrometri dell'OMEGA.

GioFX

23-01-2004, 14:59

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Molto belle le foto...
I colori sembrano un po' "plasticoni" però, non trovi?

edit: ho modificato, aggiungendo le descrizioni delle immagini... noterai in cosa è differente dalle altre l'ultima.

sono i colori in true-color come appaiono dalla scansione attraverso l'atmosfera che, per quanto sottile, è in grado potenzialemente di modificare lo spettro della luce riflessa, mai di molto poco. Da ricordare che l'immagine è modellata in 3D sulla base dei dati della camera steroscopica.

X fabio:
sono d'accordo sostanzialmente con quello che dici, ma non cadere nell'errore opposto, secondo me non è da minimizzare la missione europea.

per lui tutto ciò che è europa deve essere cacca... e ci gode pure.

crespo80

23-01-2004, 15:05

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Guarda che non è esploso... :rolleyes:
non ho detto questo, anzi è pure possibile che trasmetta ancora :)

Originariamente inviato da fabio69
guarda che la notizia di ghiaccio dacqua al polo sud è vecchia
da decenni si parlava proprio di una sua possibile presenza al polo sud, perchè durante l'estate marziana al polo sud appunto marte si trova alla minima distanza dal sole e la temperatura si alzava di quel tanto da far evaporare tutta l'anidride carbonica allo stato solido (cd ghiaccio secco) e quello che rimaneva doveva essere appunto acqua, allo stato ghiacciato ovviamente
il problema poi era trovarla in altri punti del pianeta che non fossero i poli
ma già mars odissey della nasa aveeva accertato una volta per tuttte la presenza sicura di ghiaccio d'acqua ai poli:
[...]
continuate pure la vostra discussione e mi raccomando trasformatela nel solito sciocchezzaio tipo europa 1 usa 0, con le pseudoscoperte europee che tali non sono :rolleyes:
guarda, io non metto in dubbio che la presenza di acqua sia già stata ipotizzata e abbia trovato incoraggianti riscontri nelle precedenti missioni. Ho detto che questa volta è avvenuta la conferma :)
E poi, se ho dato tanto risalto al risultato ottenuto dal ME nei confronti della sonda della NASA, è solo perchè in precedenza si è già sputato abbastanza sul fallimento del beagle2 e volevo un attimo pareggiare i conti.

Stai tranquillo che non tifo affatto per la NASA o per l'ESA, mi piacerebbe solo che gli sforzi fatti da quest'ultima venissero apprezzati anche quando qualcosa va male
:p

gpc

23-01-2004, 15:08

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
sono i colori in true-color come appaiono dalla scansione attraverso l'atmosfera che, per quanto sottile, è in grado potenzialemente di modificare lo spettro della luce riflessa, mai di molto poco. Da ricordare che l'immagine è modellata in 3D sulla base dei dati della camera steroscopica.

Sì sì, è che le ultime foto dal rover parevano, come dire, più reali... come colori intendo.
Tu sai se si trovano anche ad alta risoluzione quelle immagini?

per lui tutto ciò che è europa deve essere cacca... e ci gode pure.

Beh, sai che non è l'unico. Sono molti di più quelli che pensano che USA=[cacca,male]... e tanto meno non è l'unico partigiano.
Per cui direi che non c'è bisogno di prendersela... ;)

fabio69

23-01-2004, 15:11

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
fabio, non era necessario che postassi quell'intutile papiro... già l'ho dette quelle cose prima...

Si sapeva della presenza di ghiaccio misto CO2-H2 al polo nord, mentre si ipotizzava la presenza di ghiaccio di idrogeno al polo sud, ma si pensava essere misto con C02, come al nord. Odyssey nel 2002 ha dato una prima conferma della presenza di idrogeno, ma solo oggi si è scoperto che è proprio giacchio di idrogeno e per la prima volta sono state osservate molecole d'acqua in sospensione nel visibile e nel infrarosso, e non solo (come ha fatto Odyssey) nello spettro gamma, grazie algli spettrometri dell'OMEGA.

ma che dici? :rolleyes:
l'odissey ha il thermal emission imaging system (TERMIS) oltre all'OMEGA proprio per riprendere le immagini sia che nel visibile che nell'infrarosso. ho anche postato un immagine del TERMIS appunto in quello che secondo te è un inutile papiro :rolleyes:

gpc

23-01-2004, 15:13

Maremma maiala, ma la piantate di fare i bambini e di stuzzicarvi a vicenda per delle baggianate? :muro:

GioFX

23-01-2004, 15:14

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Sì sì, è che le ultime foto dal rover parevano, come dire, più reali... come colori intendo.

Ho modificato le immagini, aggiungendo le descrizioni.

Tu sai se si trovano anche ad alta risoluzione quelle immagini?

http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMFEB474OD_FeatureWeek_1.html

Ci sono anche video a dx, e poi se ti interessa c'è la multimedia gallery sulla missione.

Beh, sai che non è l'unico. Sono molti di più quelli che pensano che USA=[cacca,male]... e tanto meno non è l'unico partigiano.
Per cui direi che non c'è bisogno di prendersela... ;)

Beh, non sono tanti, anzi sono vermante pochi quelli che pensano USA=cacca su tutto, ma anzi spesso criticano particolari aspetti. Io critico tante cose delle politiche americane, ma mai ho lanciato messaggi del tipo noi siamo i migliori o cose simili... non ci penso nemmeno, soprattutto nel costesto scientifico e tecnologico... non me ne frega molto di USA vs Europa... ma vaglielo a spiegare...

GioFX

23-01-2004, 15:17

Originariamente inviato da fabio69
ma che dici? :rolleyes:
l'odissey ha il thermal emission imaging system (TERMIS) oltre all'OMEGA proprio per riprendere le immagini sia che nel visibile che nell'infrarosso. ho anche postato un immagine del TERMIS appunto in quello che secondo te è un inutile papiro :rolleyes:

senti per cortesia, rileggiti le news AMERICANE che ho riportato...

l'OMEGA + FPS è uno strumento con 2 differenti spettrometri di ME.

"The announcement at a press conference at the Mars Express mission headquarters backs data provided by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter in March 2002.

It suggested that the planet's southern polar cap contains abundant stores of frozen water.

NASA's evidence came from big signals from Odyssey's gamma ray spectrometer of the presence of hydrogen, one component of water.

ESA's data comes a spectrometer called Omega, which uses reflected sunlight in the visible and infrared range to determine the mineral content of the Martian surface and the molecular composition of its atmosphere."

Ripeto: l'osservazione delle molecole di H2 in sospensione è la conferma della natura del ghiaccio, una conferma a ipotesi già fondate, anche grazie ai dati sull'analisi gamma dello spettrometro di Odyssey.

gpc

23-01-2004, 15:20

Originariamente inviato da GioFX

http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMFEB474OD_FeatureWeek_1.html

Ci sono anche video a dx, e poi se ti interessa c'è la multimedia gallery sulla missione.

Grazie, sto scaricando :D

GioFX

23-01-2004, 15:28

Mars Express Confirms Water Ice on Red Planet

By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 08:00 am ET
23 January 2004

The European Mars Express orbiter has confirmed the existence of water ice in the south polar cap of Mars. The craft also beamed back a detailed photo of a channel on the red planet that might have long ago been created by flowing water.

Scientists have long known that Mars' north polar cap is composed mostly of water ice. Previous observations by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) had experts convinced the south polar cap contained water ice, too.

In fact there appears to be a vast store of frozen water mostly buried under a blanket of carbon dioxide ice, commonly called dry ice.

Some of the dry ice melts away during summer in the southern hemisphere of Mars, exposing sheets of water ice below -- that's what MGS had found photographic evidence for.

Now Mars Express has made the first detection of a chemical signature of the water ice at the south pole. Officials said today they had essentially seen the vapors of water at the surface.

"You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint and say this is water ice," said Allen Moorehouse of European Space Agency. "This is the first time it's been detected on the ground. This is the first direct confirmation."

The presence of water ice was noted by the orbiter's camera and confirmed by a infrared spectrometer, which splits light like a prism and analyzes the chemicals involved in producing the light.

In other observations made by NASA's Mars Odyssey probe over the past couple of years, scientists have found strong evidence for water ice buried in the Martian soil away from the permanently frozen polar caps. Altogether, Mars appears to contain significant amounts of water, but so far what's been found is all frozen.

No firm evidence yet exists that there is or ever has been liquid water on Mars, a condition scientists say is essential for life. NASA's robotic rover missions are designed to search for signs of lakes or oceans that might once have covered the planet.

Mars Express is just beginning its science operations. It will settle into its final and proper orbit on Jan. 28. The Beagle 2 lander, which traveled to Mars on the Express, has yet to respond to hails from Earth.

The European orbiter also returned a new high-resolution image of a channel called the Reull Vallis. Scientists suspect it might have been formed long ago by flowing water, but some researchers say other material could have created the many channels on the red planet.

fabio69

23-01-2004, 15:29

Originariamente inviato da GioFX

per lui tutto ciò che è europa deve essere cacca... e ci gode pure.

ma per cortesia
sei tu che da sempre fai fittizie contrapposizioni del tipo:
in futuro la cina o l'europa unita gliela faranno vedere agli usa
come se non stessero aspettando altro di fargliela "vedere" agli usa, oppure gli usa boicottano l'unita europea e altre amenità simili
ironizzo sul tuo avatar e ti faccio notare che nell'ultimo trattato-costituzione europea tutto è andato a farsi bendedire e tu eh ma l'europa unita politicamente e militarmente, continuando a scrivere cose del tutte avulse dalla realtà
ma mi facci il piacere, anzi non mi facci ridere
d'altronde lo dissse anche Prodi in un soprassalto di sincerità che nei consessi internazionali quando parlava di europa gli ridevano dietro :rolleyes: :D

GioFX

23-01-2004, 15:36

Originariamente inviato da fabio69
ma per cortesia
sei tu che da sempre fai fittizie contrapposizioni del tipo:
in futuro la cina o l'europa unita gliela faranno vedere agli usa
come se non stessero aspettando altro di fargliela "vedere" agli usa, oppure gli usa boicottano l'unita europea e altre amenità simili
ironizzo sul tuo avatar e ti faccio notare che nell'ultimo trattato-costituzione europea tutto è andato a farsi bendedire e tu eh ma l'europa unita politicamente e militarmente, continuando a scrivere cose del tutte avulse dalla realtà
ma mi facci il piacere, anzi non mi facci ridere
d'altronde lo dissse anche Prodi in un soprassalto di sincerità che nei consessi internazionali quando parlava di europa gli ridevano dietro :rolleyes: :D

io faccio fittizie contrapposizioni?!? quando mai ho detto che cina (addirittura, quando diavolo l'avrei detto...) ed eruopa gliela faranno vedere?!?!?

riguardo l'europa e le sue istituzioni vedo che sei molto informato... ad ogni modo la discussione sulla bozza di costituzione non è stato concluso al primo tentativo per i diversi motivi che dovresti conoscere... ma certo non è morto...

ora sarebbe il caso di finirla con gli OT...

fabio69

23-01-2004, 15:39

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
senti per cortesia, rileggiti le news AMERICANE che ho riportato...

l'OMEGA + FPS è uno strumento con 2 differenti spettrometri di ME.

"The announcement at a press conference at the Mars Express mission headquarters backs data provided by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter in March 2002.

It suggested that the planet's southern polar cap contains abundant stores of frozen water.

NASA's evidence came from big signals from Odyssey's gamma ray spectrometer of the presence of hydrogen, one component of water.

ESA's data comes a spectrometer called Omega, which uses reflected sunlight in the visible and infrared range to determine the mineral content of the Martian surface and the molecular composition of its atmosphere."

Ripeto: l'osservazione delle molecole di H2 in sospensione è la conferma della natura del ghiaccio, una conferma a ipotesi già fondate, anche grazie ai dati sull'analisi gamma dello spettrometro di Odyssey.

ma si può sapere che cosa stai dicendo?
il Thermal Emission Imaging System c'è sull'odissey o no?
ha prodotto immagini all'infrarosso da cui si è desunta la presenza di ghiaccio sui poli di marte oltre ai rilevamenti dell'OMEGA?
guarda che sto sempre parlando dell'odissey e non del mars express :rolleyes:

GioFX

23-01-2004, 15:57

Originariamente inviato da fabio69
ma si può sapere che cosa stai dicendo?
il Thermal Emission Imaging System c'è sull'odissey o no?
ha prodotto immagini all'infrarosso da cui si è desunta la presenza di ghiaccio sui poli di marte oltre ai rilevamenti dell'OMEGA?
guarda che sto sempre parlando dell'odissey e non del mars express :rolleyes:

fabio, sia OMEGA (che sta per Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activit) sia l'FPS sono sturmenti di ME... differiscono dagli spettrometri TES (Thermal Emission Spectrometer) di MGS e THEMIS di Odyssey per la lunghezza d'onda che utilizzano per l'analisi chimica dei minerali, che è maggiore nel campo dell'infrarosso (analisi termica), mentre OMEGA+FPS permete di studiare la luce riflessa nello spettro dell'infrarosso superiore (con lunghezza d'onda minore) e nel visibile.

GioFX

23-01-2004, 15:57

fabio69

23-01-2004, 15:58

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
io faccio fittizie contrapposizioni?!? quando mai ho detto che cina (addirittura, quando diavolo l'avrei detto...) ed eruopa gliela faranno vedere?!?!?

riguardo l'europa e le sue istituzioni vedo che sei molto informato... ad ogni modo la discussione sulla bozza di costituzione non è stato concluso al primo tentativo per i diversi motivi che dovresti conoscere... ma certo non è morto...

ora sarebbe il caso di finirla con gli OT...

bah, io ricordo perorazioni tue a spartire il potere "mondiale", naturalmente in contrapposizione agli usa, le parole esatte non le ricordo ma il concetto è quello
sull'europa, vedi forse non è che io sono poco informato, ma tu male informato o più probabilmente scambi le tue inclinazioni e simpatie per la realtà effettuale
probabilmente un trattato simil costituzione prima o poi verrà approvato sempre che l'elefante europa non si areni e paralizzi nei suoi veti incrociati con l'espansione a est

cmq l'obbiettività che hai parlando di questo argomento è simile a quando tratti di fiat o di schumacherrrr

ps OT sei andato tu, non io

ominiverdi

23-01-2004, 15:58

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
Ho modificato le immagini, aggiungendo le descrizioni.

http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMFEB474OD_FeatureWeek_1.html

Ci sono anche video a dx, e poi se ti interessa c'è la multimedia gallery sulla missione.

queste foto sono fantastiche!
bellissimo l'ingrandimento della parte sud di valle marineris (come non si era mai vista), dove si vedono dettagliatamente diversi crateri e i curiosi solchi nella parte alta della foto :)

interessanti anche i video, e molto bella la foto col canale.

sono belle e dettagliate anche le foto di spirit (forse un po' pleonastiche), ma la zona fotografata e' una pianura con tanti sassi come ci avevano gia' fatto vedere i precedenti rover USA, mentre gli scatti di ME sono in zone molto piu' interessanti e suggestive :)

grande ESA!!! :cool:

GioFX

23-01-2004, 16:03

Originariamente inviato da fabio69
bah, io ricordo perorazioni tue a spartire il potere "mondiale", naturalmente in contrapposizione agli usa, le parole esatte non le ricordo ma il concetto è quello

ne hai di fantasia...

sull'europa, vedi forse non è che io sono poco informato, ma tu male informato o più probabilmente scambi le tue inclinazioni e simpatie per la realtà effettuale
probabilmente un trattato simil costituzione prima o poi verrà approvato sempre che l'elefante europa non si areni e paralizzi nei suoi veti incrociati con l'espansione a est

inclinazioni, simpatie?!? vuoi che discutiamo di Maastricht o Nizza, o della Convenzione, o delle istituzioni europee? o delle prossime elezioni? se vuoi, io sono disposto a farlo, IN UN ALTRO THREAD... ma non mi pare tu voglia farlo...

cmq l'obbiettività che hai parlando di questo argomento è simile a quando tratti di fiat o di schumacherrrr

LOL, questa poi...

questo argomento cosa, Mars Express?!? ti faccio solo presente che oltre a ME sto anche seguendo l'intera missione MER, e le altre missioni siano esse NASA, ESA, congiunte o di altre agenzie... ma forse non te ne sei reso conto...

edit: tra l'altro l'ESA non è un'ente governativo dell'UE, non include tutti gli stati membri dell'UE e non tutti i suoi membri sono stati dell'UE...

ominiverdi

23-01-2004, 16:40

http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM...tureWeek_1.html

parte sud di Valles Marineris

23 January 2004
This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA’s Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 18 on 14 January 2004 from a height of 275 km. The location is south of Valles Marineris at 15° South and 323° East. The resolution is 12 m per pixel, the area is 50 km across and shows a tectonically controlled karst-like structure in a vertical view. North is at top.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

http://www.esa.int/export/images/ob_18_dol_v,1.jpg

---------------------

foto di una canale (Reull Vallis), che, dice l'ESA, si sarebbe formato con lo scorrere dell' acqua

23 January 2004
This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 18 on 15 January 2004 from a height of 273 km. The location is east of the Hellas basin at 41° South and 101° East. The area is 100 km across, with a resolution of 12 m per pixel, and shows a channel (Reull Vallis) once formed by flowing water. The landscape is seen in a vertical view, North is at the top.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

http://www.esa.int/export/images/ob_22_reull_v,1.jpg

---------------------

23 January 2004
This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 18 on 14 January 2004. It shows a vertical view of a mesa in the true colours of Mars. The summit plateau stands about 3 km above the surrounding terrain. The original surface was dissected by erosion, only isolated mesas remained intact. The large crater has a diameter of 7.6 km

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

http://www.esa.int/export/images/ob_18_mesa2_v,1.jpg

------------------------

23 January 2004
This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D, in orbit 32 on 19 January 2004. It shows a three-dimensional oblique view of the summit caldera of Albor Tholus, a volcano in the Elysium region. The caldera has a diameter of 30 km and a depth of 3 km. The volcano as a whole has a diameter of 160 km and a height of 4.5 km. This is geologically interesting, since the depth of the caldera approaches the height of the volcano, which is unusual on Earth. On the far left rim of the caldera, a bright 'dust fall' seems to flow from the surrounding plateau into the caldera.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

http://www.esa.int/export/images/ob_32_albor_p,1.jpg

fabio69

24-01-2004, 15:00

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
fabio, sia OMEGA (che sta per Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activit) sia l'FPS sono sturmenti di ME... differiscono dagli spettrometri TES (Thermal Emission Spectrometer) di MGS e THEMIS di Odyssey per la lunghezza d'onda che utilizzano per l'analisi chimica dei minerali, che è maggiore nel campo dell'infrarosso (analisi termica), mentre OMEGA+FPS permete di studiare la luce riflessa nello spettro dell'infrarosso superiore (con lunghezza d'onda minore) e nel visibile.

hai ragione, erroneamente e confusamente chiamavo omega lo spettometro a raggi gamma dell'odissey
ma volevo farti notare solo che anche l'odissey ha uno strumento, il themis appunto per rilevare immagini all'infrarosso
mi pare che nella pagina precedente scrivevi che odissey non aveva strumenti per l'infrarosso

fabio69

24-01-2004, 15:02

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
questo argomento cosa, Mars Express?!? ti faccio solo presente che oltre a ME sto anche seguendo l'intera missione MER, e le altre missioni siano esse NASA, ESA, congiunte o di altre agenzie... ma forse non te ne sei reso conto...

edit: tra l'altro l'ESA non è un'ente governativo dell'UE, non include tutti gli stati membri dell'UE e non tutti i suoi membri sono stati dell'UE...

mi riferivo all'europa ovviamente e non all'esa o al mars express

jumpermax

24-01-2004, 15:15

Originariamente inviato da fabio69
ma per cortesia
sei tu che da sempre fai fittizie contrapposizioni del tipo:
in futuro la cina o l'europa unita gliela faranno vedere agli usa
come se non stessero aspettando altro di fargliela "vedere" agli usa, oppure gli usa boicottano l'unita europea e altre amenità simili
ironizzo sul tuo avatar e ti faccio notare che nell'ultimo trattato-costituzione europea tutto è andato a farsi bendedire e tu eh ma l'europa unita politicamente e militarmente, continuando a scrivere cose del tutte avulse dalla realtà
ma mi facci il piacere, anzi non mi facci ridere
d'altronde lo dissse anche Prodi in un soprassalto di sincerità che nei consessi internazionali quando parlava di europa gli ridevano dietro :rolleyes: :D
a me sembra che tu faccia solo provocazioni gratuite in questo thread. GIOFX in questi giorni è stato bravissimo a raccogliere informazioni e link dai vari siti su entrambe le missioni, non mi è mai sembrato schierato, o intento a dare interpretazioni politiche del tutto fuori luogo. Come del resto nessun appassionato di astronomia farebbe, siamo tutti contenti per ogni passo che l'umanità compie verso le stelle, sia esso fatto dall'esa dall'a nasa o dai cinesi. Non riesco a capire che gusto ci provi a continuare con le provocazioni, vuoi fare degenerare anche questo thread?
xGIOFX: ignorare a volte è la migliore soluzione....

GioFX

24-01-2004, 16:46

Originariamente inviato da fabio69
hai ragione, erroneamente e confusamente chiamavo omega lo spettometro a raggi gamma dell'odissey
ma volevo farti notare solo che anche l'odissey ha uno strumento, il themis appunto per rilevare immagini all'infrarosso
mi pare che nella pagina precedente scrivevi che odissey non aveva strumenti per l'infrarosso

no, forse non sono stato chiaro ma non intendevo questo...

La missione di Odyssey riguarda l'osservazione globale del pianeta, inclusi la sua geologia, l'atmosfera, l'origine, e la ricerca di ambienti adatti alla vita (e quindi anche all'acqua).
Mars Express nasce con il principale obbiettivo di ricercare proprio l'acqua in tutte le sue forme con sette strumenti, tra i quali due spettrometri che lavorano nell'infrarosso e nel visibile: FPS, spettrometro di Fourier ed Omega - spettrometro infrarosso-superiore e visibile, a lunghezze d'onda diverse da Odyssey, come ho detto. Il lavoro più grosso però lo farà il radar da 40m Marsis (La Sapienza/Alenia Spazio), cercando acqua sotto il suolo del pianeta fino a 5 km di profondità.

Quindi sono due missioni sostanzialmente diverse e complementari.

fabio69

26-01-2004, 01:44

Originariamente inviato da jumpermax
a me sembra che tu faccia solo provocazioni gratuite in questo thread. GIOFX in questi giorni è stato bravissimo a raccogliere informazioni e link dai vari siti su entrambe le missioni, non mi è mai sembrato schierato, o intento a dare interpretazioni politiche del tutto fuori luogo. Come del resto nessun appassionato di astronomia farebbe, siamo tutti contenti per ogni passo che l'umanità compie verso le stelle, sia esso fatto dall'esa dall'a nasa o dai cinesi. Non riesco a capire che gusto ci provi a continuare con le provocazioni, vuoi fare degenerare anche questo thread?
xGIOFX: ignorare a volte è la migliore soluzione....

mah, non hai capito il perchè del mio intervento
nella pagina precedente avevo espresso perplessità sulla rele portata della "scoperta" fatta dal mars express e stigmattizzavo alcuni interventi tipo europa 1 usa zero ecc.
ma non sono il solo ad avere qualche dubbio che di reale scoperta si tratti o piuttosto non di una migliore verifica di scoperte precedenti con strumenti più sofisticati, infatti un estratto di un articolo del giornale di ieri così scrive:

Clamorosa "scoperta" o semplice "conferma"?
Il mondo scientifico si divide riguardo alle rivelazioni della sonda mars express circa la presenza di ghiaccio sul pianeta Marte.
Un punto però trova però abbastanza d'accordo gli esperti: le immagini trasmesse dalla Mars sono sicuramente di alto interesse scientifico, anche se la possibilità di trovare forme di vita rimane remota, ma non impossibile.
A capeggiare il fronte dei più scettici è il professor Cristiano Batalli Cosmovici, ex astronauta, dirigente di ricerca del Cnr ed esperto di bioastronomia: "La presenza di ghiaccio su Marte è già nota agli scienziati da molti anni, ma per ricercare possibili tracce di vita sarebbe fondamentale individuare acqua liquida nel sottosuolo".
Ma essendo Mars Express un satellite orbitale, e quindi non operante sul terreno, un accertamento di questo tipo non è al momento possibile.
Ieri mattina parlando alla CNN, il direttore del programma di esplorazione su Marte della Nasa, Orlando Figueroa, aveva negato che le informazioni raccolte dalle missione dell'Esa indicassero niente di nuovo: "il nostro satellite Odissey, che è in orbita su Marte dal 2001, aveva già scoperto vaste quantita di acqua ghiacciata alle latitudini settentrionali e meridionali".
Quindi non sono notizie nuove, ma siamo contenti che anche il loro satellite è in grado di rilevare dove ci sia del ghiaccio".
Parole che lasciano trasparire tra gli amerivani della Nasa e gli europei dell'Esa una competizione apparentemente poco ispirata ai genuini interessi della scienza: e non è un caso che entrtambi abbiano mandato sonde di esplorazione su Marte nello stesso periodo, senza contare le altre che arriveranno dalla Russia e dal Giapppone.

inoltre ho anche parlato di come da qualche decennio si parlava di ghiaccio al polo sud, perchè essendo marte più vicino al sole, al perielio durante l'estate australe e quindi più calda, l'anidride carbonica ghiacciata al polo sud scompariva quasi completamente lasciando dei residui che sicuramente trattavisi di ghiaccio d'acqua che sublimava molto più lentamente dell'anidride carbonica; erano deduzioni effettuate sui rilievi fotografici del "vecchio" mariner 9 sulla calotta meridionale, con analoghe conclusioni in base si rilievi del viking 2 per quanto riguarda la calotta settentrionale
queste cose le scrivevano nel 1984, cioè 20 anni fa, gli astronomi dell'università di cambridge, che proprio ciapuzzi non sono, in un libro in mio possesso e fondamentalmente odissey (e global surveyor) negli anni scorsi non scopri niente, ma confermò queste deduzioni con strumenti più sofisticati a sua volta confermate dal mars express
si trattavano quindi di perplessità legittime le mie
se mars express fosse stata americana e odissey europea avrei detto le stesse identiche cose
al che mi si è risposto che per me tutto ciò che fa l'europa è "cacca", e su questo anzi ci godrei pure
un pò come nelle discussioni precedenti: scrivevo che mi sembrava irrealistica l'affermazione secondo cui l'esa avrebbe portato un equipaggio umano su marte, ma contemporeanamente scrivevo anche che era un impresa superiore alle possibilità della nasa (sottolineavo che attualmente visto il disastro dello shuttle la nasa non era neanche in gradi di mandare a breve scadenza un uomo in orbita) e probabilmente difficile da realizzarsi anche da tutte le agenzie spaziali mondiali consorziate visti i problemi tecnologici, i rischi umani e soprattutto i costi, per cui definivo propagandistico l'annuncio di bush (ma che si ben guardato di ripeterlo nel discorso sullo stato dell'unione) per un impresa che adesso come adesso mi sembra ancora chimerica
ho aggiunto anche che tutta questa corsa al pianeta rosso ormai diventata una moda mi sembra del tutto sprporzionata e auspicavo un diverso dislocamento delle risorse umane e finanziarie verso i telescopi spaziali che dal punto di vista della conoscenza scientifica-astronomico penso possano dare maggiori risultati, dato che le risorse medesime erano limitate e infatti l'altro giorno l'ultima missione di manutenzione dell'hubble è stata accantonata, condannandolo alla morte orbitale, per ragioni principalmente di costi
quindi un discorso a 360 gradi è invece Gio mi rispondeva che ce "l'avevo" con l'esa perchè europea, quando invece non c'entrava nulla col mio discorso ma semmai riguardava il suo concetto di europeismo e il futuro della comunità europea di cui a mio parere non vede i limiti e le insanabli contraddizioni o quando le vede le fa risalire ad altre cause per lo più esterne
un discorso quindi OT per quanto riguarda queste discussioni ma che non veniva tirato in ballo da me che mi limitavo a rispondere, fuori luogo magari, ma provocato a farlo, provocato io, non lui

nelle altre discussioni ho scritto anche che una volta che saranno stati contati tutti i ciottoli e i sassi marziani da queste sonde (europee, americane, giapponesi) sarò curioso di vedere qualche fondamentale scoperta rispetto a quanto è stato accertato dalle misssioni viking 25 anni fa
invece su molti mass media in questi giorni: su marte c'è acqua (ghiacciata) quindi c'è o ci può essere vita
figuriamoci come se bastasse un pò d'acqua per far crescere la vita come una muffa qualsiasi in un pianeta geologicamente morto da svariate centinaia di milioni di anni, fondamentalmente freddo che riceve meno della metà dell'energia che riceve la terra dal sole, ma che queste radiazioni ridotte sarebbero cmq letali per qualsiasi forma di vita stante il suo debolissimo campo magnetico e la sua rarefatissima atmosfera, con l'acqua ivi presente completamente allo stato ghiacciato e la completa assenza di qualsiasi composto organico come rilevato dalle sonde viking

io dico che prima o poi tutta questa sbronza marziana del tutto ingiustificata dovrà pur finire

ps il cammino dell'uomo verso le stelle? esagerato al massimo siamo andati sulla luna che su scala non dico stellare ma del sistema solare è come se fossimo rimasti fermi
ps 2 vedi magari tu d'ignorare discussioni che non ti coinvolgono e di cui non hai ben capito le dinamiche

Raven

26-01-2004, 07:17

Originariamente inviato da fabio69

ps OT sei andato tu, non io

Ecco, bravi... adesso però se la finiste di imbeccarvi saremmo tutti più contenti...

GioFX

26-01-2004, 16:29

Disappointment in Beagle 2 search

26-Jan-04 16:09 GMT

No contact has been made with the Beagle 2 lander, despite repeated efforts over the last few days to communicate via the Mars Express and Mars Odyssey spacecraft and the Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Cheshire, UK.

At a press briefing in London this afternoon, members of the Beagle 2 team described the latest efforts to contact their missing lander.

"We haven't found Beagle 2, despite three days of intensive searching," said Professor Colin Pillinger, lead scientist for Beagle 2. "Under those circumstances, we have to begin to accept that, if Beagle 2 is on the Martian surface, it is not active.

"That isn't to say that we are going to give up on Beagle. There is one more thing that we can do - however, it is very much a last resort. We will be asking the American Odyssey spacecraft (team) tomorrow whether they will send an embedded command - a hail to Beagle with a command inside it. If it gets through, it will tell Beagle to switch off and reload the software. We are now working on the basis that there is a corrupt system and the only way we might resurrect is to send that command."

"We can also ask Mars Express to send that command. However, they cannot send it probably until the 2 or 3 February," he added.

"We'll move with the next phase in the search for Beagle 2," said Professor Pillinger. "We have discussed on our side of the house what we intend to do in the future. We are dedicated to trying to refly Beagle 2 in some shape or form, therefore we need to know how far it got because we need know which parts of this mission we don't have to study in further detail."

Detailing the efforts to contact Beagle 2 in recent days, Mark Sims, Beagle 2 Mission Manager from the University of Leicester, explained that the lander should have entered an emergency communication mode known as CSM2 no later than 22 January. In this mode, the spacecraft's receiver is switched on throughout daylight hours on Mars. The only possible explanation that no communication has been established during the last few days is that the landers battery is in a low state of charge.

Meanwhile, the academia-industry 'Tiger Team' at the National Space Centre in Leicester is beginning to concentrate on detailed analysis of the possible causes for failure of the mission and the lessons that can be learned for future missions.

The analysis of the mission now under way includes an assessment of the landing site ellipse from orbital images, reanalysis of atmospheric conditions during the entry into the Martian atmosphere on 25 December, examination of the separation from Mars Express and of the cruise phase preceding arrival at Mars.

One extremely useful piece of evidence could be provided by an image of the lander. The team is hoping that the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express or the camera on board Mars Global Surveyor may eventually be able to capture an image that reveals its location on the Martian surface.

Gyxx

27-01-2004, 08:43

Su Repubblica c'è un interessante articolo che vi segnalo, che tratta di possibili spiegazioni sul perchè vi siano stati problemi sia con Spirit che con Beagle 2 ... ;) ....

http://www.repubblica.it/2003/l/sezioni/scienza_e_tecnologia/marte/ben/ben.html

Ciapps ;) :D

Gyxx

GioFX

27-01-2004, 16:46

http://www.pparc.ac.uk/mars/news/MEXVMC.jpg

Farewell, Beagle 2

December 19, 2003

The bright spot on the left-hand side of this picture is the back side of Beagle 2, slowly drifting away from Mars Express. This image, taken this morning at 9:33 CET, shows the lander when it was about 20 metres away from the mother spacecraft, on its way to Mars. Copyright: ESA

maxsona

27-01-2004, 17:39

Quindi hanno trovato il Bigolo ? :flower:

GioFX

27-01-2004, 17:46

Originariamente inviato da maxsona
Quindi hanno trovato il Bigolo ? :flower:

Se avessi letto bene, capivi che parlava del 19 dicembre 2003, quando si è staccato il bigolo da ME...

purtroppo, credo sia definitivamente andato...

:(

maxsona

27-01-2004, 17:48

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
Se avessi letto bene, capivi che parlava del 19 dicembre 2003, quando si è staccato il bigolo da ME...

purtroppo, credo sia definitivamente andato...

:(
Quali sono i prossimi progetti dell' ESA ? anche loro hanno in cantiere un Rover ?

GioFX

27-01-2004, 17:54

Originariamente inviato da maxsona
Quali sono i prossimi progetti dell' ESA ? anche loro hanno in cantiere un Rover ?

Beh, a parte Cassini-Huygens (NASA-ESA) e Rosetta, il prossimo lancio è quello di Venus Express (derivata da Mars Express).

Per marte tutti i progetti, da approvare, si riconducono al progetto Aurora, che prevede una serie di missioni robotizzate sulla luna e marte, e altri asteroidi, inclusa una missione che prevede il ritorno di campioni di roccia su Marte.

Tuttavia, occorre dire che tutti i progetti in corso di svolgimento e/o studio potrebbero subire variazioni o cancellazioni a seconda di come verrà implementato il nuovo progetto di missioni umane su luna e marte, in cooperazione tra NASA, ESA, CSA, RosaviaKosmos e JAXA.

GioFX

11-02-2004, 11:02

Europe's Mars Express spies Valles Marineris region

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY PHOTO RELEASE
Posted: February 10, 2004

This image was aquired by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter from an altitude of 275 km above the Red Planet. The features in the picture indicate erosional processes possibly caused by water.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0402/10marsexpress/vallesmarineris.jpg
Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

gpc

11-02-2004, 13:38

http://www.esa.int/images/015-090204_1-0037_01-6-v-76,1.jpg

Complex caldera of Olympus Mons - Mars Express

11 February 2004
View from overhead of the complex caldera (summit crater) at the summit of Olympus Mons on Mars, the highest volcano in our Solar System.

Olympus Mons has an average elevation of 22 km and the caldera has a depth of about 3 km. This is the first high-resolution colour image of the complete caldera of Olympus Mons.
The image was taken from a height of 273 km during orbit 37 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express on 21 January 2004. The view is centred at 18.3°N and 227°E. The image is about 102 km across with a resolution of 12 m per pixel. South is at the top.

-------------

Bellissima anche la foto che hai messo tu... dove l'hai trovata che o io sono :fagiano: o sul sito dell'ESA non c'è?

GioFX

11-02-2004, 15:49

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Bellissima anche la foto che hai messo tu... dove l'hai trovata che o io sono :fagiano: o sul sito dell'ESA non c'è?

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34626

gpc

11-02-2004, 16:03

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34626

Thanks! :)
Ti ringrazio con una news:

British, European Space Agencies Open Inquiry into Beagle 2 Loss
By Peter de Selding
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 09:00 am ET
11 February 2004

PARIS -- The European and British space agencies on Feb. 11 announced the creation of a board of inquiry to determine how future Mars missions might avoid the fate of the lost Beagle 2 lander, which has not been seen or heard from since its Dec. 19 separation from the Mars Express orbiter.

So little is known about what happened to Beagle 2 -- it is presumed to have entered the Martian atmosphere and landed on Dec. 25 -- that the inquiry will focus less on specific causes of the mission's failure than a broad survey of Beagle 2's financing, development and testing.

The board of inquiry will be led by European Space Agency (ESA) Inspector General Rene Bonnefoy and is expected to report its findings by the end of March.

Despite numerous attempts to locate and contact Beagle 2 since late December by NASA's Odyssey satellite, by ESA's Mars Express and by ground-based antennas listening for a Beagle 2 signal, no signs of Beagle 2 life have been registered since its Dec. 19 separation from Mars Express.

Mission managers at Britain's University of Leicester and Open University have said that they would have to accept the loss of the lander by mid-February if no signal were received.

Beagle 2 was designed to search for signs of past or present life on Mars. Its funding, totaling some 49 million euros ($61.25 million), was paid by ESA, the British government and Beagle 2 prime contractor Astrium Ltd. of Stevenage, England.

Despite its ambitious mission goals, the lander's limited budget and weight limits as a piggyback passenger on Mars Express prohibited the inclusion of any backup systems. Any single failure during its descent to Mars, or during the deployment of its parachutes, air bags or solar arrays, could have caused the loss of Beagle 2.

-------------------------

Interessante la parte finale sui sistemi di backup :muro: :muro:

GioFX

11-02-2004, 17:51

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Interessante la parte finale sui sistemi di backup :muro: :muro:

Che vuoi, con 60 milioni di dollari non si fa molto... :p. Pensa che solo Mars Express è costata 350 milioni, mentre missioni più complesse come Rosetta arrivano al miliardo (:eek: ).

gpc

12-02-2004, 15:38

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
Che vuoi, con 60 milioni di dollari non si fa molto... :p. Pensa che solo Mars Express è costata 350 milioni, mentre missioni più complesse come Rosetta arrivano al miliardo (:eek: ).

Lo so che sessanta milioni di dollari sono un'inezia :D , ma mandare una sonda su marte... senza sistemi di backup... beh, non mi viene altro da fare che :muro:
Piuttosto non gliela mandi e ti tieni i soldi per dopo!!

GioFX

12-02-2004, 16:34

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Lo so che sessanta milioni di dollari sono un'inezia :D , ma mandare una sonda su marte... senza sistemi di backup... beh, non mi viene altro da fare che :muro:
Piuttosto non gliela mandi e ti tieni i soldi per dopo!!

Beh, questo tipo di misisoni sono dette, appunto, "low-cost missions"... sono la maggiorparte, in realtà.

GioFX

13-02-2004, 00:08

International, interplanetary and no interference! Mars Express calls up Spirit

12 February 2004

ESA PR 10-2004. A pioneering demonstration of communications between the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter and NASA's Mars exploration rover, Spirit, has succeeded.

On 6 February, while Mars Express was flying over the area that Spirit is examining, the orbiter transferred commands from Earth to the rover and relayed data from the rover back to Earth.

"This was the first in-orbit communication between ESA and NASA spacecraft, and we have also created the first working international communications network around another planet," said Rudolf Schmidt, ESA's Project Manager for Mars Express. "Both are significant achievements, two more 'firsts' for Mars Express and the Mars exploration rovers."

Jennifer Trosper, Spirit Mission Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, USA, said, "We have an international interplanetary communications network established at Mars."

ESA and NASA planned this demonstration as part of continuing efforts to cooperate in space.

The commands for the rover were first transferred from Spirit's operations team at JPL to ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, where they were translated into commands for Mars Express. The translated commands were transmitted to Mars Express, which used them to command Spirit. Spirit used its ultra-high-frequency antenna to transmit telemetry information to Mars Express, and the orbiter then relayed the data back to JPL via the European Space Operations Centre.

"This is excellent news," said JPL's Richard Horttor, project manager for NASA's roles in Mars Express. "The communication sessions between Mars Express and Spirit were pristine. Not a single bit of data was missing or added, and there were no duplications."

This exercise demonstrates the increased flexibility and capabilities of inter-agency cooperation and highlights the close mutual support that is essential when undertaking international space exploration.

GioFX

14-02-2004, 20:43

Olympus Mons - the caldera in close-up

11 February 2004

http://www.esa.int/export/images/015-090204_1-0037_01-6-v-76,1.jpg
Complex caldera of Olympus Mons - Mars Express

View from overhead of the complex caldera (summit crater) at the summit of Olympus Mons on Mars, the highest volcano in our Solar System.

Olympus Mons has an average elevation of 22 km and the caldera has a depth of about 3 km. This is the first high-resolution colour image of the complete caldera of Olympus Mons.
The image was taken from a height of 273 km during orbit 37 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express on 21 January 2004. The view is centred at 18.3°N and 227°E. The image is about 102 km across with a resolution of 12 m per pixel. South is at the top.

http://www.esa.int/export/images/016-090204_2-0037_02-6-p-12,1.jpg
Detail of the southern part of the caldera in perspective - Mars Express

image has been calculated from the digital elevation model derived from the stereo channels and combined with the nadir- and colour-channels of the Mars Express HRSC.
The scene reveals tongue-shaped mass-movement features in 3D on the southern wall. The striations are tectonic faults. After lava production has ceased the caldera collapsed over the emptied magma chamber. Through the collapse the surface suffers from extension and so extensional fractures are formed. The elevation level on which these fractures can be observed represents the event of the oldest caldera collapse. Later lava production has produced new caldera collapses at different locations (the other circular depressions), they partly destroyed the circular fracture pattern of the oldest one.

The data has been retrieved from a height of 273 km during orbit 37 on 21 January 2004. The view is centred at 18.3°N and 227°E. The image is about 40 km across. The vertical exaggeration is 1.8. South is up to allow the mass-movement features to be seen.

gpc

20-02-2004, 16:07

Gio batti la fiacca :D

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMSXE1PGQD_0.html

Behind the lens...

http://www.esa.int/images/HRSClarge.jpg
The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC)

13 February 2004
This is the camera behind the stunning European imagery from Mars. The High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express is now mapping most of the Martian surface with unprecedented detail.

The HRSC was originally designed for the Russian Mars ’96 space mission. After an unsuccessful launch in November 1996, the back-up model of the camera was modified for use on the European Mars Express mission. Another version, the HRSC-AX, has been built for airborne high-resolution 3D Earth reconnaissance and has already been used in a large number of projects.

The main part of the HRSC, the Camera Head, has a resolution of 10 metres per pixel at an altitude of 250 kilometres, the point of closest approach to Mars. The Super Resolution Channel (SRC) part is the high resolving channel with a resolution of down to 2.3 metres per pixel. The whole unit measures only 515 mm by 300 mm. SRC images will provide the most detailed information about areas of special interest, for example the examination of future landing sites.
The imaging electronics of the HRSC are based on the principle of a ‘linescan’ camera. This means only a line is exposed to the light, and not an area (like on ordinary 35 mm film). One CCD line of the HRSC consists of 5184 light-sensitive cells (pixels). The HRSC has nine of these lines, one for each imaging channel. The CCD exposure time is adjusted to match the ground velocity of the spacecraft.

Three channels are sensitive to the spectral ranges of red, green and blue. Another one obtains data in near-infrared. Then there are three stereo channels which are used to the digital terrain models – these take angled views to get a downward, backward and a forward-view of the surface.

From these different views, you can derive three-dimensional images. The last two channels are two photometric channels, giving data for the physical analysis of the Martian surface.

The SRC is the second part of the HRSC camera system and uses an area sensor. This means the light intensity is measured by a matrix of 1024 by 1032 elements. This produces a picture of 1024 x 1032 pixels and, from an altitude of 250 kilometres, this corresponds to a square on the Martian surface with sides of length 2.35 kilometres, each pixel representing 2.3 metres.

Normally, the main camera and the SRC work simultaneously, because of the difficulty in locating the SRC images on the Martian surface. The high-resolution SRC images are nested in the HRSC strips, giving very detailed information about areas of special interest.

gpc

20-02-2004, 16:09

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMMJQ1PGQD_0.html

What do the colours mean?

18 February 2004
How do you display a picture of Mars taken with an electronic eye, capable of seeing wavelengths of light that are invisible to humans? Welcome to the wonderful world of ‘false’ colour…

The first trio of images from the OMEGA instrument on ESA's Mars Express, released on 23 January 2004, showed some colourful views of Mars’ south polar ice cap. That is mainly because two of the images were taken at infrared wavelengths that defy easy translation into colour. So, they were displayed in ‘false’ colour.

http://www.esa.int/images/northpole_M.jpg
Martian polar ice cap viewed in 'normal' visible light

William Smith, the British ‘father’ of geology, introduced false colour to science in the 1800s. He wanted to draw a map of Great Britain to show the different types of rock that could be found across its surface and decided to colour code the rocks.
The colours were not intended to represent the true colours of the rocks, but simply to act as a key to identifying them. Political maps of the world also use of false colour, clearly showing the boundaries between countries because of the sudden change of colour.

http://www.esa.int/images/treacque200a,0.jpg
OMEGA image of the southern polar cap of Mars 18 January

The OMEGA images here show a visible light image of the Martian south pole (far right). This is a traditional combination of red, blue and green wavelengths that all computers and televisions use to make full-colour images.

The other two images, the middle one showing the distribution of carbon dioxide ice and the left-hand image showing the distribution of water ice are falsely coloured.

Both ice images are made from infrared radiation reflected by the surface of Mars. Because carbon dioxide and water absorb and reflect characteristically different wavelengths of infrared, OMEGA can identify each chemical compound by looking at the missing parts of the spectra received back from the surface.

The astronomers then used false colour to show how much ice had been detected at the polar cap. The colour scale is blue to red. The bluer the area, the more carbon dioxide ice in the middle image and, in the left-hand image, the more water ice. Red areas are deficient and yellow areas are intermediate zones.

Comparing the pictures, the wide yellow expanse on the left-hand image shows that the water ice is more widespread than the carbon dioxide ice. The carbon dioxide ice collects mostly in the blue peak of the middle image.

With this early success, OMEGA’s Principal Investigator Dr Jean-Pierre Bibring, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, France, is looking forward to the rest of mission. He says, “Our goal now is to map the whole planet.”

So, as William Smith’s 1815 map of Great Britain helped show the mineral wealth of England, Wales and Scotland, so OMEGA will eventually show the distribution of minerals and rock types across the surface of Mars. Like its predecessor, it too will be presented in glorious ‘false’ colour.

gpc

20-02-2004, 16:11

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMMBP1PGQD_0.html

Kasei Vallis

http://www.esa.int/images/018-170204_1-0061_01-6-v-31,1.jpg
Kasei Vallis

18 February 2004
This vertical view shows the mouth of Kasei Vallis, one of the largest outflow channels on Mars, taken by Mars Express.

The image was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express during orbit 61 from an altitude of 272 km. The resolution is 12 metres per pixel. The image centre is located at 29.8° north and 309° east, the image width is 130 km, North is up.
The part of the outflow channel seen in this image has most probably been carved by glaciers or gigantic water-related outflows known from terrestrial subglacial lakes. The blackish-blue colour is related to sediments. The bright streaks oriented NE-SW are related to wind forces.

This image shows various details which give an insight into the erosional history of the outflow channel. The image also illustrates how difficult it is to achieve near-true colour in images of Mars when atmospheric dust and haze have a major disturbing influence on the scene.

http://www.esa.int/images/0061_context_L.jpg
Composite showing the location of Kasei Vallis

GioFX

20-02-2004, 16:17

grazie gp... :D

gpc

20-02-2004, 16:19

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
grazie gp... :D

Ma si figuri :O
Dai adesso ti aggiorno un pochino anche quelli sui rover che vedo che si alle prese le rosette... :D

GioFX

20-02-2004, 16:21

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Ma si figuri :O
Dai adesso ti aggiorno un pochino anche quelli sui rover che vedo che si alle prese le rosette... :D

roseeeetteeee...

:sbav:

GioFX

20-02-2004, 16:23

"piccoli" pannelli solari, di Rosetta...

http://sci.esa.int/science-e-media/img/7d/ACFLQA0saWWW.jpg

http://sci.esa.int/science-e-media/img/6b/lores_34155.jpg

gpc

20-02-2004, 16:25

Ma sono quelli del Mars Express??

GioFX

20-02-2004, 16:26

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Ma sono quelli del Mars Express??

no ho sbagliato scusa... :D

gpc

20-02-2004, 16:27

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
no ho sbagliato scusa... :D

Vedi che nemmeno tu riesci più a star dietro ai tuoi thread? :D
Dai rispondimi nell'altro che ho bisogno di un consiglio, quello dello Spirit...

GioFX

23-02-2004, 18:25

Explaining the colors of Mars

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY NEWS RELEASE
Posted: February 22, 2004

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/images/040222northpole.jpg
Martian polar ice cap viewed in 'normal' visible light. Credit: ESA

How do you display a picture of Mars taken with an electronic eye, capable of seeing wavelengths of light that are invisible to humans? Welcome to the wonderful world of 'false' color...

The first trio of images from the OMEGA instrument on ESA's Mars Express, released on January 23, showed some colorful views of Mars' south polar ice cap. That is mainly because two of the images were taken at infrared wavelengths that defy easy translation into color. So, they were displayed in 'false' color.

William Smith, the British 'father' of geology, introduced false color to science in the 1800s. He wanted to draw a map of Great Britain to show the different types of rock that could be found across its surface and decided to color code the rocks.

The colors were not intended to represent the true colors of the rocks, but simply to act as a key to identifying them. Political maps of the world also use of false color, clearly showing the boundaries between countries because of the sudden change of color.

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/images/040222omega.jpg
OMEGA observed the southern polar cap of Mars on January 18, as seen on all three bands. The right one represents the visible image, the middle one the CO2 (carbon dioxide) ice and the left one the H2O (water) ice. Credits: ESA - OMEGA

The OMEGA images here show a visible light image of the Martian south pole (far right). This is a traditional combination of red, blue and green wavelengths that all computers and televisions use to make full-color images.

The other two images, the middle one showing the distribution of carbon dioxide ice and the left-hand image showing the distribution of water ice are falsely colored.

Both ice images are made from infrared radiation reflected by the surface of Mars. Because carbon dioxide and water absorb and reflect characteristically different wavelengths of infrared, OMEGA can identify each chemical compound by looking at the missing parts of the spectra received back from the surface.

The astronomers then used false color to show how much ice had been detected at the polar cap. The color scale is blue to red. The bluer the area, the more carbon dioxide ice in the middle image and, in the left-hand image, the more water ice. Red areas are deficient and yellow areas are intermediate zones.

Comparing the pictures, the wide yellow expanse on the left-hand image shows that the water ice is more widespread than the carbon dioxide ice. The carbon dioxide ice collects mostly in the blue peak of the middle image.

With this early success, OMEGA's Principal Investigator Dr Jean-Pierre Bibring, Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, France, is looking forward to the rest of mission. He says, "Our goal now is to map the whole planet."

So, as William Smith's 1815 map of Great Britain helped show the mineral wealth of England, Wales and Scotland, so OMEGA will eventually show the distribution of minerals and rock types across the surface of Mars. Like its predecessor, it too will be presented in glorious 'false' color.

gpc

23-02-2004, 18:35

Ma non l'avevo gia' postata io? :mbe:

GioFX

23-02-2004, 22:57

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Ma non l'avevo gia' postata io? :mbe:

Beh, è l'odierna interpretazione della news da parte di SDC... credo, è la stessa?

gpc

24-02-2004, 12:21

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
Beh, è l'odierna interpretazione della news da parte di SDC... credo, è la stessa?

Identica dalla prima all'ultima parola :D

Allora non leggi i miei post :grrr:

GioFX

24-02-2004, 16:48

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Identica dalla prima all'ultima parola :D

ops... :D

Allora non leggi i miei post :grrr:

ma no, è che ho la testa altrove di sti tempi, scusa... :fiufiu: :sofico:

gpc

26-02-2004, 16:10

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM3X32PGQD_0.html

ESA prepares for next missions to Mars

http://www.esa.int/images/Aurora_rover1318_M.jpg

25 February 2004
Before humans can leave footprints on the surface of Mars, many questions have to be answered and many problems solved. One of the most fundamental questions is whether life has ever existed on Mars.

In its long-term Aurora Programme of Solar System exploration, ESA is preparing a series of robotic missions that will reveal the Red Planet’s secrets and pave the way for future human expeditions.
A major step in this ambitious programme was completed this week with the selection of two industrial teams to carry out the detailed design of the ExoMars rover and its payload of scientific instruments called 'Pasteur'.

These teams will be responsible for producing a detailed design concept for the rover, the first vehicle of its kind to be built by ESA. ExoMars will be ESA’s first mission to carry 'exobiology' instruments, meaning they are specifically designed to search for life.

Over the next few months ESA scientists will define a multi-instrument package that will be able to carry out a number of key tasks. It should be able to drill into the surface, retrieve and analyse samples, study the physical environment and look for evidence of biomarkers – clear signs that life has existed on Mars in the past, or even survives to the present day.

ExoMars, which is scheduled for launch in 2009, will include an orbiter and a descent module that will land a highly mobile rover, weighing up to 200 kilogrammes, on the surface of Mars. After delivery of the lander and rover, the orbiter will operate as a data relay satellite between the Earth and the vehicle on the surface.

The main aim of the rover and its state-of-the-art Pasteur payload will be to search for signs of life, past or present, on the Red Planet. Pasteur will be the most comprehensive scientific package ever to land on Mars, with tools that can extract, handle and analyse samples of Martian soil.

Its unique capability to obtain underground samples at depths of up to two metres will provide an excellent opportunity to gain access to ice-rich soil layers - and possibly the first definitive evidence of primitive Martian life.

gpc

26-02-2004, 16:11

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMO0Z1PGQD_0.html

Making light work of the dark

24 February 2004
It is the start of eclipse season for Mars Express. That means unavoidable passages of the spacecraft through the shadow of Mars, cutting it off from the sunlight that is converted into electrical power by the orbiter’s solar arrays.

This creates a nervous time for engineers at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. Mars Express, however, is making light of this challenging part of the mission.

Mars Express orbits the Red Planet in a fixed direction that never changes. As Mars follows its own orbit around the Sun, there are times when Mars Express will be forced into the planet’s shadow. When this happens, the spacecraft must rely on battery power alone to keep it alive.

“So far things are going very well,” says John Reddy of ESA’s Mars Express project team. It is viewpoint shared by Rudolf Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager. He says, “We have a graph predicting what will happen and, so far, the spacecraft has returned data that match our calculations.”
Mars Express completes one orbit of Mars every 7.5 hours. On 12 February 2004, the spacecraft experienced its first expected eclipse. That one lasted for only a few minutes but, as the days go by, the periods of darkness will rise to a full hour and a half early in March. After this, although the duration of the eclipses will slowly decrease, they will continue for about 150 days.

Away from sunlight, the spacecraft gets very cold and so it must be heated, draining the power reserves. When the spacecraft re-emerges, controllers on Earth must align it to recharge the batteries, otherwise all power could be lost during the next eclipse and critical damage could occur.

ESOC is in contact with Mars Express for just eight hours every day and so everything must be meticulously planned in advance and the spacecraft carefully programmed with the necessary manoeuvres.

And what of science during this testing time? At first, it was placed on hold so that the health of the spacecraft could be paramount. Now, with added confidence, science operations are beginning to be performed again. “It is our intention to perform as much safe science as we can during this period,” says Reddy.

Although Mars Express will experience other eclipse seasons during its mission, they are not likely to as trying as this one.

(nota: l'immagine di questo articolo è un filmato flash, per vederlo seguite il link all'articolo)

gpc

23-03-2004, 09:10

Water at Martian south pole

17 March 2004
Thanks to ESA’s Mars Express, we now know that Mars has vast fields of perennial water ice, stretching out from the south pole of the Red Planet.

Astronomers have known for years that Mars possessed polar ice caps, but early attempts at chemical analysis suggested only that the northern cap could be composed of water ice, and the southern cap was thought to be carbon dioxide ice.
Recent space missions then suggested that the southern ice cap, existing all year round, could be a mixture of water and carbon dioxide. But only with Mars Express have scientists been able to confirm directly for the first time that water ice is present at the south pole too.

OMEGA view of Martian south pole, showing water ice areas (blue)
Mars Express made observations with its OMEGA instrument to measure the amounts of sunlight and heat reflected from the Martian polar region. When planetary scientists analysed the data, it clearly showed that, as well as carbon dioxide ice, water ice was present too.

The results showed that hundreds of square kilometres of ‘permafrost’ surround the south pole. Permafrost is water ice, mixed into the soil of Mars, and frozen to the hardness of solid rock by the low Martian temperatures. This is the reason why water ice has been hidden from detection until now - because the soil with which it is mixed cannot reflect light easily and so it appears dark.

However, OMEGA looked at the surface with infrared eyes and, being sensitive to heat, clearly picked up the signature of water ice. The discovery hints that perhaps there are much larger quantities of water ice all over Mars than previously thought.

Using this data, planetary scientists now know that the south polar region of Mars can be split into three separate parts. Part one is the bright polar cap itself, a mixture of 85% highly reflective carbon dioxide ice and 15% water ice.

HRSC partial view of Martian south pole where OMEGA found water ice
The second part comprises steep slopes known as ‘scarps’, made almost entirely of water ice, that fall away from the polar cap to the surrounding plains. The third part was unexpected and encompasses the vast permafrost fields that stretch for tens of kilometres away from the scarps.

The OMEGA observations were made between 18 January and 11 February this year, when it was late summer for the Martian southern hemisphere and temperatures would be at their highest. Even so, that is probably only –130 degrees Celsius and the ice that Mars Express has observed is a permanent feature of this location.

During the winter months, scientists expect that carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will freeze onto the poles, making them much larger and covering some of the water ice from view.

Mars Express and OMEGA will now continue looking for water ice and minerals across the surface of the planet. In May, another Mars Express instrument, the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), will begin collecting data, looking for water underground.

It will be particularly exciting when MARSIS looks at the south pole because, once planetary scientists know how deep the ice reaches, they will be able to calculate exactly how much water there is. Knowing this is very important to understand how Mars evolved and if it ever harboured life.

http://www.esa.int/images/Bibring_figure0-L.jpg

Map of the Mars south pole, as derived from OMEGA infrared spectral images, showing the bright polar cap, rich in carbon dioxide (light pink), surrounded by water-rich ice, free of carbon dioxide (green to blue).

Credits: ESA-OMEGA

http://www.esa.int/images/OMEGA,1.jpg

Global map of water ice at the south pole of Mars. Mapping of the water ice; blue areas show deep absorption, i.e. areas with water ice, red areas are ice-free. The water ice areas extend far beyond the carbon dioxide rich bright cap, along its scarps up to isolated units tens of kilometres wide.

Credits: ESA-OMEGA

http://www.esa.int/images/spoleHRSC-L.jpg

A partial (visible) view of the Martian south polar ice cap, taken on 11 February 2004 during orbit 103 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express, from an altitude of 269 kilometres light. The south pole is where the OMEGA instrument made its significant discovery, with the steep slopes known as ‘scarps’ made almost entirely of water ice, falling away from the polar cap to the surrounding plains, and the permafrost fields that stretch for tens of kilometres away from the scarps.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU

gpc

23-03-2004, 09:13

http://www.esa.int/images/025-150304-0068-6-an-01_L.jpg

22 March 2004
This nadir (vertical view) image was taken during orbit 68 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express, from an altitude of 271 kilometres. This anaglyph image has been calculated from the nadir and stereo channels.
The image is centred at 7.9 degrees North and 255.5 degrees East and shows a portion of the southern flank of Ascraeus Mons, the northernmost volcano of the Tharsis volcano group. North is at the right.

The peculiar depressions which can be observed here, and on several Martian volcanoes, are so-called 'lava tubes'. Lava tubes are caused by the crusting (or cooled lava) which occurs over a lava channel, a covering making the channel into a tunnel. When lava production ceases, the tunnel empties and the roof of the tunnel falls in, making an elongated depression.

Occasionally, the depression forms a chain of small pits over an emptied lava tunnel. Pit chains and lava tunnels are common on the Martian surface and are also seen on other terrestrial planets and the Moon.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

http://www.esa.int/images/027-150304-0068-6-co-01_L.jpg

22 March 2004
This colour nadir (vertical view) image was taken during orbit 68 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express, from an altitude of 271 kilometres.
The image is centred at 7.9 degrees North and 255.5 degrees East and shows a portion of the southern flank of Ascraeus Mons, the northernmost volcano of the Tharsis volcano group. North is at the right.

The lighter, 'pink' areas on the colour image are clouds. The peculiar depressions which can be observed here, and on several Martian volcanoes, are so-called 'lava tubes'. Lava tubes are caused by the crusting (or cooled lava) which occurs over a lava channel, a covering making the channel into a tunnel. When lava production ceases, the tunnel empties and the roof of the tunnel falls in, making an elongated depression.

Occasionally, the depression forms a chain of small pits over an emptied lava tunnel. Pit chains and lava tunnels are common on the Martian surface and are also seen on other terrestrial planets and the Moon.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

http://www.esa.int/images/026-150304-0068-6-nd-01_L.jpg

22 March 2004
This nadir (vertical view) image was taken during orbit 68 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express, from an altitude of 271 kilometres. This is how the image looks like before final processing and colour channel addition.
The image is centred at 7.9 degrees North and 255.5 degrees East and shows a portion of the southern flank of Ascraeus Mons, the northernmost volcano of the Tharsis volcano group. North is at the right.

The lighter shaded, 'wispy' areas (lighter pink in the colour image) at the left and right of the image are clouds. The peculiar depressions which can be observed on several Martian volcanoes are so-called 'lava tubes'. Lava tubes are caused by the crusting (or cooled lava) which occurs over a lava channel, a covering making the channel into a tunnel. When lava production ceases, the tunnel empties and the roof of the tunnel falls in, making an elongated depression.

Occasionally, the depression forms a chain of small pits over an emptied lava tunnel. Pit chains and lava tunnels are common on the Martian surface and are also seen on other terrestrial planets and the Moon.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

-------------------

Qui l'articolo con i link alle immagini ad alta risoluzione: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM1NJYV1SD_1.html

GioFX

23-03-2004, 10:45

:ave:

GioFX

30-03-2004, 23:05

Probe confirms methane in the Martian atmosphere

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY NEWS RELEASE
Posted: March 30, 2004

During recent observations from the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft in orbit around Mars, methane was detected in its atmosphere.

Whilst it is too early to draw any conclusions on its origin, exciting as they may be, scientists are thinking about the next steps to take in order to understand more.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/marsexpress/images/040330marsvolcano.jpg
This colour image of the Hecates Tholus volcano was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express in orbit 32 on from an altitude of 275 km. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

From the time of its arrival at Mars, the Mars Express spacecraft started producing stunning results. One of the aims of the mission is analysing in detail the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere, known to consist of 95% percent carbon dioxide plus 5% of minor constituents. It is also from these minor constituents, which scientists expect to be oxygen, water, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and methane, that we may get important information on the evolution of the planet and possible implications for the presence of past or present life.

The presence of methane has been confirmed thanks to the observations of the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on board Mars Express during the past few weeks. This instrument is able to detect the presence of particular molecules by analysing their "spectral fingerprints" - the specific way each molecule absorbs the sunlight it receives.

The measurements confirm so far that the amount of methane is very small - about 10 parts in a thousand million, so its production process is probably small. However, the exciting question "where does this methane come from?" remains.

Methane, unless it is continuously produced by a source, only survives in the Martian atmosphere for a few hundreds of years because it quickly oxidises to form water and carbon dioxide, both present in the Martian atmosphere. So, there must be a mechanism that refills the atmosphere with methane.

"The first thing to understand is how exactly the methane is distributed in the Martian atmosphere," says Vittorio Formisano, Principal Investigator for the PFS instrument. "Since the methane presence is so small, we need to take more measurements. Only then we will have enough data to make a statistical analysis and understand whether there are regions of the atmosphere where methane is more concentrated."

Once this is done, scientists will try to establish a link between the planet-wide distribution of methane and possible atmospheric or surface processes that may produce it. "Based on our experience on Earth, the methane production could be linked to volcanic or hydro-thermal activity on Mars. The High Resolution Stereo camera (HRSC) on Mars Express could help us identify visible activity, if it exists, on the surface of the planet", continues Formisano. Clearly, if it was the case, this would imply a very important consequence, as present volcanic activity had never been detected so far on Mars.

Other hypotheses could also be considered. On Earth, methane is a by-product of biological activity, such as fermentation. "If we have to exclude the volcanic hypothesis, we could still consider the possibility of life," concludes Formisano.

"In the next few weeks, the PFS and other instruments on-board Mars Express will continue gathering data on the Martian atmosphere, and by then we will be able to draw a more precise picture," says Agustin Chicarro, ESA Mars Express Project Scientist.

Thanks to the PFS instrument, scientists are also gathering precious data about isotopes in atmospheric molecules such as water and carbon dioxide - very important to understand how the planet was formed and to add clues on the atmospheric escape. The PFS also gives important hints about water-cloud formation on the top of volcanoes, and shows the presence of active photochemical processes in the atmosphere.

maxsona

30-03-2004, 23:12

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
http://www.ciepiemonte.it/palestina/images/cammello.jpg

:fiufiu: :O :mbe:

jumpermax

31-03-2004, 00:25

ragazzi la questione del metano mi sembra davvero grossa... il metano non dura a lungo nell'atmosfera marziana quindi ci deve essere una fonte sul pianeta... quale?

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/creating_methane_life_volcanoes.html?3032004
What's Creating the Methane, Life or Volcanoes?

Summary - (Mar 30, 2004) Scientists consider the discovery of methane in the Martian atmosphere to be one of the strongest indicators of habitable conditions for life. Methane can be produced through both biological and non-biological processes, but it degrades very quickly - it should disappear within 300 years in the Martian atmosphere. So what's producing it? The last period of volcanism seems to be millions of years ago (Olympus Mons was active 100 million years ago). That's doesn't necessarily mean life, though. There could still be volcanic vents gassing methane which haven't been discovered.

Full Story -
Image credit: ESA
Considered suggestive of life, an atmosphere of methane on another planet is considered one of the four best candidates for detecting habitable conditions using remote sensing and telescope spectrographs. While methane can be made both by biological and non-biological processes, it is also degraded by non-biological means, so a high concentration often is interpreted as requiring a source to replenish it. If metabolism is that source, then some of the prerequisites for a steady-state ecosystem may be in play.

On Earth there are four gases linked to the presence of life and habitable conditions: water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and molecular oxygen (O2, or its proxy, ozone O3). Water is essential to all biology we understand today, while the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen constitute the collective respirator for photosynthesis and breathable worlds. The dominant gas on Mars today is by far carbon dioxide.

With methane, there are some methanogenic organisms that require consumption of this gas for their subsistence. Methanogenesis converts carbon dioxide to methane. Since strong chemical reactions quickly destroy (oxidize) methane at the Martian surface, if methane is found today, there must be some replenishment that gives a clue to active biology. Such biosynthesis leaves a ubiquitous signature of life even in specimens where there are no fossils visible.

Michael J. Mumma of Goddard Space Flight Center first reported in a poster at a recent planetary conference [DPS] that his preliminary search for methane with both of two ground-based infrared telescopes had found something interesting. His survey turned up intriguing signs of what may be methane's spectral line in the Martian atmosphere.

These hints have now been confirmed by the European orbiter, Mars Express. Using an instrument called the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), the work reported in Nature magazine identified the characteristic spectral fingerprint of methane. "We have detected methane at concentrations of ten parts per billion," said Vittorio Formisano of the Institute of Physics of Interplanetary Space in Rome and the principal investigator in the PFS team.

The current martian atmosphere is 99% thinner than the Earth's. The surface temperature averages -64 F (-53 C), but varies between 200 below zero during polar nights to 80 F (27 C) at midday peaks near the equator. The global picture of Mars is sometimes compared terrestrially to Antarctic dry regions, only colder.

Carbon, nitrogen and methane would be the gaseous precursors to what would be required to sustain or transform Mars from its current inhospitable state to a warmer, microbe-friendly planet. Because researchers believe that methane can persist in the Martian atmosphere for less than 300 years, any methane they find can be assumed to arise from recent biological processes, produced, for example, by methane-producing bacteria. This close link gives methne its less scientific name of swamp gas.

The European Mars Express mission is capable of detecting methane in the martian atmosphere. As Agustin Chicarro, Mars Express Project Scientist said, these "investigations will provide clues as to why the north of the planet is so smooth and the south so rugged, how the Tharsis and Elysium mounds were lifted up and whether active volcanoes exist on Mars today."

There are some problems with trying to understand the history of methane and other greenhouse gases on Mars. There is no evidence on Mars of large limestone deposits from the first billion years, which would be directly linked to large amounts of C02, a greenhouse gas.

Methane -- which can be created naturally by volcanic eruptions or produced by primitive life -- thus may be a missing piece of the puzzle to finding out if organic remnants might once have sustained a primordial Mars. The last period of active volcanism on Mars is well before the last 300 years that methane can survive in the martian atmosphere of today. University of Buffalo volcanologist, Tracy Gregg, told Astrobiology Magazine, "the youngest surficial activity discovered to date (and it's probably 1 million years old, which would be considered quite young, and possibly "active" on Mars) is in a region that contains no large volcanic structures of any kind." Mars' gigantic volcano Mons Olympus was active until 100 million years ago.

Earlier observations had speculated on methane concentrations as high as 50-70 parts per million, not what Mars Express detected as ten parts per billion. This low level could not likely sustain a global pattern suggestive of a biosphere, but might support local ecologies if methane has some underground source. Whatever the final concentration might be, its appearance in such an unstable atmosphere has taken on importance to unravel the mysteries of a martian biosphere. The most frequently mentioned example of a martian methane economy centers on a deep biosphere of methane rich biochemistry, or anerobic methanogens.

fabio69

31-03-2004, 00:44

Originariamente inviato da jumpermax
ragazzi la questione del metano mi sembra davvero grossa... il metano non dura a lungo nell'atmosfera marziana quindi ci deve essere una fonte sul pianeta... quale?

grossa?
dieci parti per miliardo?

"Earlier observations had speculated on methane concentrations as high as 50-70 parts per million, not what Mars Express detected as ten parts per billion. This low level could not likely sustain a global pattern suggestive of a biosphere, but might support local ecologies if methane has some underground source. Whatever the final concentration might be, its appearance in such an unstable atmosphere has taken on importance to unravel the mysteries of a martian biosphere. The most frequently mentioned example of a martian methane economy centers on a deep biosphere of methane rich biochemistry, or anerobic methanogens."

mi sembra l'ennesima "scoperta" irrilevante

jumpermax

31-03-2004, 00:57

Originariamente inviato da fabio69
grossa?
dieci parti per miliardo?

"Earlier observations had speculated on methane concentrations as high as 50-70 parts per million, not what Mars Express detected as ten parts per billion. This low level could not likely sustain a global pattern suggestive of a biosphere, but might support local ecologies if methane has some underground source. Whatever the final concentration might be, its appearance in such an unstable atmosphere has taken on importance to unravel the mysteries of a martian biosphere. The most frequently mentioned example of a martian methane economy centers on a deep biosphere of methane rich biochemistry, or anerobic methanogens."

mi sembra l'ennesima "scoperta" irrilevante
grossa sì. Perchè non può essere residuo della passata attività vulcanica dato che si dissolve in tempi geologicamente brevi. Per cui deve esserci una fonte sul pianeta...

GioFX

31-03-2004, 01:21

2 o 3cento anni non sono neanche tempi geologici...

cmq mi sa che fabio ne se più di tutti gli scenziati, in effetti ha ragione... è del tutto inutile studiare l'universo.

:O

jumpermax

31-03-2004, 01:34

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
2 o 3cento anni non sono neanche tempi geologici...

cmq mi sa che fabio ne se più di tutti gli scenziati, in effetti ha ragione... è del tutto inutile studiare l'universo.

:O
beh allo stato attuale delle cose non si sa molto. Può benissimo essere il frutto di una debole attività geologica o di bombardamento meteoritico, insomma ci può essere più di una spiegazione, ma la sonda del resto è lì proprio per questo... le risposte ancora non le abbiamo ;)

gpc

31-03-2004, 07:42

Madooooo anche qui a stuzzicarvi... :muro:

Su Space.com dicevano che le spiegazioni per il metano, che è comunque una grande scoperta, possono essere diverse: dal meteorite contenente metano a residui di attività geologica, ma non è escluso che l'origine sia biologica, ovvero prodotto di batteri, anche se è una ipotesi abbastanza improbabile.

GioFX

30-04-2004, 01:09

GioFX

30-04-2004, 01:10

ESA (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM2J777ESD_index_0.html):

Mars Express radar deployment postponed

29 April 2004
The MARSIS team has advised ESA to delay the deployment of the MARSIS radar instrument on board Mars Express, scheduled for this week.

New and improved computer models suggest that, during deployment, the radar booms may swing back and forth with larger amplitudes than previously expected. If this happened, the booms might come too close to delicate components of the spacecraft body. Further simulations and tests are under way to better understand the situation.

The two main radar booms are 20-metre long hollow cylinders, of 2.5 centimetres diameter, folded up in a box like a concertina (accordion). When the box is opened, the elastic energy of the compressed glass-fibre booms will let them unfold like a jack-in-the-box.

After the booms spring out, they will eventually lock in a straight line, taking up the shape that they had before being folded into the box. The deployment procedure of each boom is expected to last about 10 minutes.

Simulations carried out four years ago by the radar boom's manufacturer, Astro Aerospace, California, USA, indicated that the deployment should be smooth, without significantly swinging back and forth. However, the radar team has now advised ESA that a new and refined analysis of the boom dynamics indicates that a sort of "backlash" might take place before the boom locks into its position.

Although a successful deployment is not in question, Mars Express mission managers want to make sure that the booms are not subjected to excessive mechanical stress and that they do not interfere with the spacecraft as they deploy.
The MARSIS team and their industrial contractors are now performing further tests and simulations to confirm that the deployment will have no impact on the safety of the spacecraft. These simulations will then be reviewed by ESA's experts. Based on the results, expected within a few weeks, ESA will decide when and how to activate MARSIS.

MARSIS will study the sub-surface of Mars to a depth of a few kilometres. The instrument's antennas will send radio waves towards the planet and analyse how they are reflected by any surface that they encounter. In this way, MARSIS can investigate the sub-surface mineralogical composition and will reveal the presence of any underground reservoir of water or ice.

gpc

13-05-2004, 14:52

Ma allora questo radar l'hanno messo in funzione o no? :confused:

GioFX

13-05-2004, 15:31

non ancora... hanno deciso di posticiparlo per avere il tempo di fare tutte le dovute simulaizoni delle oscillazioni che ci sarebbero con il deployment dell'antenna Marsis di 40m... cmq sono sicuri che non ci saranno problemi particolari.

gpc

13-05-2004, 16:29

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
non ancora... hanno deciso di posticiparlo per avere il tempo di fare tutte le dovute simulaizoni delle oscillazioni che ci sarebbero con il deployment dell'antenna Marsis di 40m... cmq sono sicuri che non ci saranno problemi particolari.

Ah ecco... perchè avevo capito che il ritardo sarebbe stato di una settimana, ma qui il tempo passa ma non si ha nessuna notizia... sono curioso di vedere che risultati da! :D

gpc

20-05-2004, 14:37

Niente più notizie... niente più foto... si sono addormentati?

GioFX

20-05-2004, 15:00

:boh:

GioFX

31-05-2004, 20:22

Lessons learnt from Beagle 2 and plans to implement recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry

24 May 2004

The Mars Express spacecraft, carrying the Beagle 2 lander, was launched on 2 June last year, arriving in the vicinity of Mars in December. The separation of Beagle 2 from Mars Express occurred on 19 December. The satellite continued its mission with its successful insertion into a Mars orbit on 25 December, the day on which Beagle 2 was due to land.

The first radio contact with Beagle 2 was expected shortly after the scheduled landing time but no signal was received. Many radio contacts were attempted over the following days and weeks, but without result. By early February it became clear that there was no prospect of communicating with Beagle 2 and a joint ESA/UK inquiry was set up to investigate the circumstances and possible reasons that prevented completion of the Beagle 2 mission.
The report was commissioned jointly by Lord Sainsbury and ESA’s Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain. It is not therefore a public inquiry. The Commission of Inquiry was led by ESA’s Inspector General, René Bonnefoy, with David Link (former Director at Matra-Marconi Space, now EADS-Astrium(UK)) as co-Chairman.

The Commission of Inquiry, which included senior managers and experts from within Europe and also NASA and Russia, held several meetings in the UK and in ESA, interviewing the key actors, directors, managers, scientists, and engineers, who participated in the development of Beagle 2. The report has been submitted to the UK Minister for Science and Innovation and the Director General of ESA and accepted. No single technical failure or shortcoming was unambiguously identified but a few credible causes for Beagle 2’s loss were highlighted. More importantly, the Board made it clear that there were programmatic and organisational reasons that led to a significantly higher risk of Beagle 2 failure, than otherwise might have been the case.

The scope of the Inquiry covered a wide range of important issues of concern to the UK, ESA and other Member States in ESA. Some of these matters are necessarily confidential between governments and the Agency and cannot be released.

Furthermore, the development of Beagle 2 entailed close working relations between many firms in the UK. Many of those firms invested their own funds in the project and formed relations which remain commercially sensitive.

Although deciding that the Report should remain confidential, we believe it is important that the full set of Recommendations is published together with our appreciation of lessons learnt. You will, of course, have an opportunity to hear at first hand about our plans to implement those Recommendations and to ask questions.

Lessons learnt

The Inquiry Board has not singled out any act by any individual, nor any technical failure that in itself could have been the unique cause of failure of Beagle 2. In the Inquiry Board’s work, many individual decisions were analysed. However, there are institutional lessons to be learnt, many of which flow from treating the lander as an instrument, which at the time was the standard practice.

The Commission has proposed a set of 19 Recommendations on which the UK Government, ESA and the Beagle 2 project team are agreed. They can be grouped in three parts:

those concerning best practice when selecting a complex project – such as the Beagle 2 lander – assessing its overall benefits and risks, planning means to manage and mitigate risks and ensuring that it is fully integrated within the overall management of the mission;
those concerned with technical factors which may have contributed to the loss of Beagle 2, for example specification, development and testing of the airbags;
and those concerning technical enhancements for future landers which would have aided our understanding of events during Beagle 2’s descent and subsequently improved our ability to find it or reactivate it.

In 1997, due to the failure of an earlier Russian mission, equipment was available for a mission to Mars. At the same time it was known that Mars would be at a point of closest approach to Earth during the summer of 2003. As a result ESA Member States selected the Mars Express mission, though the schedule was tight, and ESA invited proposals to consider the addition of a lander. Three European teams proposed landers and Beagle 2 was selected. It is now clear that the very high potential scientific benefits of the project may have contributed to a collective institutional underestimate by us all of the corresponding means to identify and mitigate risks that arose during development and subsequently proved difficult to resolve due to the very tight financial, mass and schedule constraints imposed by the rigid schedule set by that closest point of approach, and by overall budget constraints.

Implementation plan

[list=1]
ESA will return to Mars but next time the approach must have the capacity to handle the complexity, and scientists, engineers and industry will need to agree from the start the formal partnership arrangements and responsibilities that will apply throughout;
Any future complex instrument or lander must be implemented under the same management process as the mission spacecraft. BNSC has already led the way in implementing such a new policy with the European MIRI instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope. Nevertheless, scientific groups will be fully integrated into those overall arrangements;
A dedicated Exploration Directorate in ESA has been set up to coordinate technical requirements and approaches Europe-wide and will take responsibility for securing European capabilities for crucial elements for planetary missions;
Confidential Debriefing will be given to all scientific groups and industrial companies in Beagle 2 on request;
ESA Member States will be confidentially debriefed on the implications of this new approach in future programmes and to partnership arrangements.
[/list=1]

The recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry:

Recommendation 1
Future lander missions should be under the responsibility of an Agency with appropriate capability and resources to manage it. The lander/orbiter mission should be managed as an integrated whole. Nationally-funded science instruments should be included in the lander on the same basis as on the orbiter.

Recommendation 2
For future science payloads which are critical to overall mission success or have a very high public profile, the ESA Executive should make a formal, comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the proposals including technical, management and finance, and advise Space Science Policy Committee (SPC) accordingly before acceptance. If the assessment is not positive, ESA should advise the SPC not to accept the proposal.

Recommendation 3
Sponsoring Agencies of nationally-funded contributions to ESA projects should ensure that the required financing is committed at the outset to meet the estimated Cost at Completion and require that a structured development programme is established.

Recommendation 4
In addition to the ESA-led reviews of interfaces, formal Project Reviews of nationally-funded contributions to ESA missions should be undertaken by the sponsoring Agency to a standard agreed with ESA and should cover the entire project.

Recommendation 5
When an independent review of a nationally-funded project, such as the Casani review of Beagle 2, is commissioned, it is essential that ESA and the Sponsoring Agency ensure that its recommendations are properly dispositioned and those which are agreed are actioned and followed up through a formal process.

Recommendation 6
For future projects, Heads of Agreement or similar formal arrangements between co-operating entities, ESA, and national sponsors, should be put in place at the outset of projects and should include formal consultations at key stages of the projects to jointly consider its status.

Recommendation 7
Fixed price contracting should be avoided solely as a mechanism for controlling costs, and used only where the sponsor and contractor are in alignment on the requirements and scope of the work and the sharing of risks between them. Both parties should be confident that the contractor has sufficient margins to manage his uncertainties and risks.

Recommendation 8
For future high-profile/high-risk projects, ESA and any Sponsoring Agency should manage the expectations of the outcome of the project in a balanced and objective way to prepare for both success and failure.

Recommendation 9
At the start of a programme, the funding authority (ies) should require that there is system-level documentation. This is necessary to provide all partners with the technical requirements for the project and sufficient design description and justification such that the margins and risks being taken in each partner’s area of responsibility are visible.

Recommendation 10
Future planetary missions should be designed with robust margins to cope with the inherent uncertainties, and they should not be initiated without adequate and timely resources to achieve that.

Recommendation 11
Future planetary entry missions should include a minimum telemetry of critical performance measurements and spacecraft health status during mission critical phases such as entry and descent.

Recommendation 12
For future planetary entry missions, a more robust communications system should be used, allowing direct commanding of the lander for essential actuations and resets without software involvement – enabling recoveries in catastrophic situations.

Recommendation 13
Planetary probe missions involving high-level shocks from pyros and other events should undergo representative shock environmental testing at system level.

Recommendation 14
Adequate and realistic deployment tests should be performed, and sufficient time and resources must be available in the development of a new planetary mission.

Recommendation 15
Elimination of internal connectors for mass saving should be avoided if at all possible. But if unavoidable, a stringent system of check and independent crosscheck should be followed during the final wiring operation.

Recommendation 16
A back-up for the entry detection event (T0) must be included in the design of planetary entry probes.

Recommendation 17
Future planetary entry missions should include a release of the back cover and front shield, which is aerodynamically stable and analytically predictable to avoid uncontrolled contact of front shield with the lander.

Recommendation 18
Sufficient difference between ballistic coefficients of all separated items, e.g. back covers assembly and the main parachute, or other positive means, must be ensured to exclude collision after separation.

Recommendation 19
Adequate competencies in air bag and parachute technology must be available for future European planetary missions, making best use of existing expertise e.g. in USA and Russia.

Notes to editors

[list=1]
The Beagle 2 inquiry was launched on February 11 by Lord Sainsbury, UK Minister for Science and Innovation, and Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, to investigate the circumstances and possible reasons that prevented completion of the Beagle 2 mission. Such inquiries are routine in the event of unsuccessful space missions.
The Inquiry Commission was set up jointly between ESA and BNSC and was chaired by the ESA Inspector General. The Commission included senior managers and experts from Europe and also from NASA and Russia. Its remit was to:
- assess the available data/documentation acquired during development, integration and testing of the Beagle 2 lander on Earth and that pertaining to the cruise phase operations prior to release of the spacecraft to Mars;
- analyse the programmatic environment (i.e. decision processes, funding level and resources, management and responsibilities, interactions between the various entities) throughout the project;
- identify possible issues and shortcomings, both programmatic and technical, in the above and in the approach used, which might have contributed to the loss of the mission.

All members of the Commission have signed a non-disclosure agreement.
The Beagle 2 project was led by the Open University, providing the science lead, and EADS-Astrium, the prime industrial contractor responsible for the main design, development and management of the lander.
The Beagle 2 lander was funded through a partnership arrangement involving the Open University, EADS-Astrium, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), the Office of Science and Technology and ESA. Funding also came from the National Space Science Centre and the Wellcome Trust. UK principal investigators for Beagle 2 in the UK came from the Open University (gas analysis package), Leicester University (environmental sensors and x-ray spectrometer) and Mullard Space Science Laboratory (imaging systems).
BNSC is a partnership of Government Departments and Research Councils with an interest in the development or exploitation of space technologies. BNSC is the UK Government body responsible for UK civil space policy, to help gain the best possible scientific, economic and social benefits from putting space to work.
[/list=1]

BNSC
Press Enquiries: 020 7215 0806/0905
(Out of hours: 020 7215 3234/3505)
Public Enquiries: 020 7215 5000
Textphone (for people with hearing impairments): 020 7215 6740
http://www.bnsc.gov.uk

ESA
Franco Bonacina, Head of Media Relations Division
Tel. +33(0)1 53 69 7155
Fax. +33(0)1 53 69 7690

gpc

11-06-2004, 18:38

Ma del radar s'è poi saputo più niente?

gpc

24-06-2004, 23:11

Uffaaaaaaa.....

http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMXEO3VQUD_0.html

MARSIS deployment on hold

24 June 2004
The deployment of the MARSIS antenna on ESA's Mars Express spacecraft has been delayed until later this year.

The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) will seek evidence of underground water, either frozen or liquid, up to five kilometres beneath the surface of the Red Planet.
The antenna consists of two 20-metre long hollow booms that are folded up like a concertina on board Mars Express. When a pyrotechnic mechanism is fired, the booms will spring out like a jack-in-a-box.

The antenna was due to be deployed from the spacecraft on 20 April. This was delayed due to concerns that the antenna might swing back with a greater range of motion than expected after opening, possibly hitting the spacecraft.

Data from the most recent mathematical models carried out by the antenna's manufacturer, Astro Aerospace, USA, suggested the instrument's deployment might have more movement than previously thought.

MARSIS scientists have since been reviewing the Astro Aerospace data and making their own measurements to re-assess the likely behaviour of the antenna in space. At the end of this review period, they will make their recommendations to the ESA, after which the final decision on whether to deploy will be taken.

GioFX

24-06-2004, 23:23

bah... dipendiamo da un'antenna yankee... :muro:

gpc

24-06-2004, 23:25

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
bah... dipendiamo da una sonda yankee... :nono:

Eh vabbè ma anche loro, fare un'antenna che si apre con l'esplosivo (pyrotechnic mechanism)... ma che delicatezza eh... trasmettiamo le immagini in morse intanto che ci siamo... :rolleyes:

gpc

24-06-2004, 23:26

Comunque è il radar americano, non la sonda :nonsifa:

GioFX

24-06-2004, 23:26

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Comunque è il radar americano, non la sonda :nonsifa:

lapsus, ovviamente... :)

von Clausewitz

24-06-2004, 23:29

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Niente più notizie... niente più foto... si sono addormentati?

ma soprattutto niente scoperte d'una qualche rilevanza
come ho detto altre volte tutta questa mobilitazione di risorse per marte mi è sembrata sproporzionata
prima che gio mi accusi di essere antieuropeo, parlo sia delle missioni europeee che americane come già sottolineato in passato

gpc

24-06-2004, 23:37

Originariamente inviato da von Clausewitz
ma soprattutto niente scoperte d'una qualche rilevanza
come ho detto altre volte tutta questa mobilitazione di risorse per marte mi è sembrata sproporzionata
prima che gio mi accusi di essere antieuropeo, parlo sia delle missioni europeee che americane come già sottolineato in passato

Beh oddio "d'una qualche rilevanza" direi che è una parola grossa, eh...

I rover hanno dimostrato anche solo per le capacità di cui sono dotati di essere un balzo in avanti nell'esplorazione non da poco.
Gli studi che hanno fatto sul campo non sono mai stati fatti prima da nessuna sonda.
Hanno trovato le prove della presenza di acqua su marte.
Continuano a funzionare e fornire nuovi dati mesi dopo la fine del periodo per cui erano stati progettati.
Se non è niente per te...
In più ci metti che MER sta fornendo le foto più dettagliate mai fatte ad un pianeta che non sia la terra, è stata studiata nel dettaglio l'atmosfera (ai bassi livelli dai rover -compito per il quale NON erano stati progettati- e agli alti dalla sonda), e si partirà prima o poi anche col MARSIS.

Certo, se tu pensi che grazie a tutto questo domani ti alzi e ti è cambiata la vita, resterai deluso. Ma la tecnologia, l'esplorazione e la scienza non funziona così.

von Clausewitz

25-06-2004, 00:00

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Beh oddio "d'una qualche rilevanza" direi che è una parola grossa, eh...

I rover hanno dimostrato anche solo per le capacità di cui sono dotati di essere un balzo in avanti nell'esplorazione non da poco.
Gli studi che hanno fatto sul campo non sono mai stati fatti prima da nessuna sonda.
Hanno trovato le prove della presenza di acqua su marte.
Continuano a funzionare e fornire nuovi dati mesi dopo la fine del periodo per cui erano stati progettati.
Se non è niente per te...
In più ci metti che MER sta fornendo le foto più dettagliate mai fatte ad un pianeta che non sia la terra, è stata studiata nel dettaglio l'atmosfera (ai bassi livelli dai rover -compito per il quale NON erano stati progettati- e agli alti dalla sonda), e si partirà prima o poi anche col MARSIS.

Certo, se tu pensi che grazie a tutto questo domani ti alzi e ti è cambiata la vita, resterai deluso. Ma la tecnologia, l'esplorazione e la scienza non funziona così.

parlavo del numero di missioni e alla luce di ciò mi sembra proprio di si
le prove che prima c'era l'acqua su marte si avevano da decenni, solo che ancora ci si arrabbata a capire dove è finita tutta sta acqua visto che non c'è piu (evaporata? un pochetto si è salvata nel sottosuolo?) eccezion fatta per quella attorno ai poli mista a ghiaccio secco, della cui presenza si avevano riscontri comunque anche per essa da decenni
mi parli che da mesi tramettono dati, ma i vetusti viking lo avevano fatto per anni
tutta questa mobilitazione a mio parere travalica la conoscenza astronomica di un pianeta che pur con le sue peculiarità è un deserto ghiacciato quasi morto geologicamente da centinaia di milioni di anni
beh poi sulll'atmosfera non mi dire che ci sono state novità clamorose (se poi si vuol far passare per clamorosa la presenza di una particella di metano su qualche miliardo, cosa peraltro che dovrà essere confermata)
un mezzo buco nell'acqua a mio parere (oddio, non dovrei dire una cosa simile, ancora un ghiacciolo d'acqua marziano me lo devono far vedere :D
una qualche idea su come funziona la scienza, l'ossrvazione astronomica e la tecnologia ce l'ho, ma non mi dire che inizia e finisce mandando dei rover su marte a cercare acqua che non c'è più e che verosimilmente qualche miliardo d'anni fa c'era
i budget e le risorse sono limitati. e a mio parere sarebbe stato più proficuo utilizzarli e dirottarli verso l'osservazione extrasolare

ps MARSIS cos'è?

GioFX

25-06-2004, 00:08

Originariamente inviato da von Clausewitz
ps MARSIS cos'è?

ma leggere la prima pagina, mai eh? :O

cmq è sempre esilarante leggere le certezze che hai in materia... a questo punto cancelliamo pure tutta la storia dell'esplorazione terrestre, tanto si conosce già tutto, eh? :D

von Clausewitz

25-06-2004, 00:20

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
ma leggere la prima pagina, mai eh? :O

cmq è sempre esilarante leggere le certezze che hai in materia... a questo punto cancelliamo pure tutta la storia dell'esplorazione terrestre, tanto si conosce già tutto, eh? :D

boh ho dato uno sguardo veloce e non ho trovato riscontri
una risposta in due parole no eh?
sul resto, beh sai la differenza principale è che noi sulla terra ci viviamo e ci continueremo a vivere almeno finchè, e se, non ci estingueremo come specie, per cui ogni notizia sull'habitat in cui viviamo è prezioso per questo
marte è un deserto gelato e rarefato che in confronto l'everest è ideale per la villeggiatura, su cui non vivrà mai alcuna specie vivente basata sulla chimica del carbonio, ma al massimo fra qualche decina d'anni l'uomo ci farà una scampagnata per concludere, come è ovvio, che è assolutamente invivibile

GioFX

25-06-2004, 00:34

Originariamente inviato da von Clausewitz
boh ho dato uno sguardo veloce e non ho trovato riscontri
una risposta in due parole no eh?

e i link non servono a niente?!?

bah...

http://www.linmpi.mpg.de/english/projekte/mars-express/marsis/marsis_b.jpg

Marsis is one among a number of experiments on the ESA Mars Express orbiter. It is a radar system designed to penetrate the upper surface of Mars in order to search for discontinuities indicative of subsurface ice or water. Scientists in the Institute participate in the preparation of experiments with groups from JPL and the University of Rome and in the planning of analysis and interpretation of the data to be collected.

Science objectives of MARSIS

Marsis is a radar instrument carried on Mars Express designed for the primary task of searching for water, water-ice or permafrost layers believed to exist at some depth under the visible surface of Mars. There is much evidence that water once was plentiful on Mars. There are stream lined islands formed by flowing water, flow patterns reminiscent of wadis in Earth deserts, and outflow channels thought to have been formed by sudden out-rush of subterranean water. Secondary tasks are the measurement of the scattering properties of the surface of Mars at the long wavelengths required for penetration into the surface yet short enough to pass through the martian ionosphere. The electron density and temperature in the topside ionosphere may also be studied as a secondary task by using the radar as a topside sounder or by using the radar antenna system for in situ impedance measurements. Estimates of Martian water ranges from a 50 to a 500 m deep planet-wide ocean. No obvious mechanism for the escape of water from the planet has been devised. Jean's escape of water via the atmosphere is very slow (of the order of 3 m over 5 Gy). Assuming that Mars was formed with approximately the same relative amount of water as the Earth, it must be assumed that a substantial fraction of this water remains on Mars in one form or another. It is commonly believed to be bound as ice in the polar caps and, in the ground, as ice, icy permafrost or even as water. There is indirect evidence for widespread presence of ice, permafrost or liquid water through the existence of rampart craters, terrain softening, chaotic terrain and thermokarst. Marsis will attempt to directly confirm the presence of sub-surface water.

MARSIS instrument description

The proposed instrument is a multi-frequency nadir-looking pulse limited radar sounder and altimeter, which uses synthetic aperture techniques and a secondary receiving antenna to isolate subsurface reflections. The radar can be effectively operated at any altitude lower than 800 km. The instrument consists of two antenna assemblies and an electronics assembly. The antenna assembly consists of a primary dipole antenna, parallel to the surface and perpendicular to the direction of motion, used to receive echoes reflected by the Martian surface and subsurface, and a secondary monopole antenna, oriented along the nadir, used to receive only off-nadir surface returns. Maximum penetration depths are achieved at the lowest frequencies. On the dayside of Mars, the ionosphere does not allow the use of frequencies < ~3.5 MHz. To optimize subsurface probing depths operations on the nightside of Mars are desirable. Four frequency bands are centered at 1.9, 2.8, 3.8 and 4.8 MHz. In night side operations it will be possible to use 1.9 MHz and 2.8 MHz bands to estimate the dielectric properties of the subsurface detected interfaces and the 3.8 MHz and /or 4.8 MHz for further reduction of the surface clutter. On day side operations the 3.8 MHz and 4.8 MHz frequencies will be able to penetrate the ionosphere and will be used to estimate the dielectric properties. Up to four interleaved channels of data can be processed and recorded simultaneously. Under nominal operations, these channels will consist of main antenna and secondary antenna receive streams, each at two frequencies. A "chirp" signal, with a bandwidth of 1 MHz, will be generated and transmitted at each operating frequency for a period of about 500 microseconds. The instrument then switches to a receive mode and records the echoes from the surface and subsurface for the expected duration. The total transmit-receive cycle lasts on the order of a few milliseconds, depending on altitude. The received signals are down-converted, passed to a digital-to-analogue converter, and compressed in range and azimuth. The azimuth integration accumulates about 1 second of pulses, resulting in an along-track footprint size of 5 km. The cross-track footprint size is on the order of 10 km.

To ensure the greatest possible penetration of the electromagnetic waves into the ground the wavelength must be chosen as long as possible, only limited by the requirement that the waves penetrate the ionosphere without appreciable distortion to reach the ground. A secondary task of the radar system is to examine changes in reflectivity and scattering properties of local areas on the surface, and to relate them to optical images and other data in order to understand the nature of different terrain forms.

Another secondary task which may also be assigned to the radar system is to probe the top- side ionosphere. The topside of the ionosphere is now known only from occultation experiments, which are limited by geometry to near the morning or evening terminators. The study of the ionosphere is of considerable interest for the understanding of the interaction of the solar wind with a weakly magnetized planet, particularly in view of the recent discovery of localized magnetic field structures. These studies were a major task in the Mars96 mission which Mars Express is intended to partially replace. In addition it is intended to use the radar antenna as an impedance probe to measure the local electron density and temperature in the AIM experiment.

The radar system proposed will operate in the frequency range 0.2 to 7.5 MHz into a dipole antenna which will be shorter than a half wave dipole except near the upper end of the band. The radar will operate in a stepped frequency mode where the reactive part of the antenna impedance is tuned out instantaneously with an active network to insure as good antenna match as possible. The resistive part of the antenna will be matched in four bands only. The stepping through any one of the three bands in some 100 steps, depending on altitude, will take 50 to 100 msec. The received signals will be sampled at each frequency, and the sampled data for each step cycle (frequency sweep) will be stored for transmission to Earth where it will be processed for removal of surface clutter and for decoding the signal into a power versus depth profile. The transmitted signals in subsequent frequency step cycles must be so related that coherent combinations of the samples can be made. As the duty cycle of the radar will be held close to 50%, it is necessary to also include a special mode of operation, to determine the approximate time delay of the surface echo, and to adjust the repetition rate of the radar to place the echoes appropriately in the transmitter-off intervals. In addition orbit information is expected to be available in the spacecraft to help adjust repetition rate and pulse lengths along the orbit. The radar transmitter, the receiver and the tunable antenna systems are available as spare flight models from the Mars96 Long Wavelength Radar (LWR) with some modifications. The control and the data storage system must be reprogrammed or modified in order to adjust it to the new modes of operation of the radar described in Section 3.

A special mode to determine the time delay versus frequency in the lower frequency bands will be used to detect the echoes from the topside of the ionosphere, and will be converted to topside electron density profiles. The data thus obtained will be complementary to the measurement of electron content from ground stations through the total electron content method, to the observations with a riometer (relative ionospheric opacity meter) of the ionospheric absorption from the ground, both measurements proposed for landers in the Mars Express mission, and to the measurements in situ of the electron density and temperature using the radar antenna as an impedance probe. The impedance probe measurements are included as a part of the current proposal. The measurement of atmospheric water vapor content by microwave emission observations proposed for the mission will also bear on the water budget of

MPAe contribution and MARSIS investigators

The responsibility for the development of the radar system and for the coordination of the modifications of the radar system and its operation will rest with MPAe, with key partners in IRE/RAS and IKI/RAS (Russia), CNRS CEPHAG and SA (France) and ESA/SSD (the Netherlands).

Informazioni più tecniche qui: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34826&fbodylongid=1601

sul resto, beh sai la differenza principale è che noi sulla terra ci viviamo e ci continueremo a vivere almeno finchè, e se, non ci estingueremo come specie, per cui ogni notizia sull'habitat in cui viviamo è prezioso per questo

E ALLORA? non dobbiamo interessarci ad altro? hai idea di che significa la parola SCIENZA e l'interesse per la CONOSCENZA?!?

marte è un deserto gelato e rarefato che in confronto l'everest è ideale per la villeggiatura, su cui non vivrà mai alcuna specie vivente basata sulla chimica del carbonio, ma al massimo fra qualche decina d'anni l'uomo ci farà una scampagnata per concludere, come è ovvio, che è assolutamente invivibile

A parte che è comico come pensi di sapere tutto su marte, allora va ad insegnare in qualche istituto superiore... :D Cmq tu basi tutto solo sulla colonizzazione da parte dell'uomo chissà quando... a parte che dubito che tu conosca tutto di ciò che si sta studiando e analizzando si pianeti del sistema solare per capire se vi sia o vi sia stata vita in passato, ma poi, mica esiste solo questo sai... :nono:

von Clausewitz

25-06-2004, 00:47

Originariamente inviato da GioFX
e i link non servono a niente?!?

bah...

ah me n'ero dimenticato è un aggeggio della sonda europea, sai non è che le abbia seguite molto ste missioni

E ALLORA? non dobbiamo interessarci ad altro? hai idea di che significa la parola SCIENZA e l'interesse per la CONOSCENZA?!?

boh adesso che gridi a fare, ho detto evidentemente non leggi che una parte delle risorse a mio parere sproporzionate su marte le avrei dirottate su altri progetti d'osservazione principalmente extrasolari
non è che la scienza e tantomeno quella astronomica cominci e finisca col contare tutti i ciotoli marziani e scoprire prima o poi un ghiacciolo d'acqua conservato alla temperatura di meno 100 gradi centigradi

A parte che è comico come pensi di sapere tutto su marte, allora va ad insegnare in qualche istituto superiore... :D Cmq tu basi tutto solo sulla colonizzazione da parte dell'uomo chissà quando... a parte che dubito che tu conosca tutto di ciò che si sta studiando e analizzando si pianeti del sistema solare per capire se vi sia o vi sia stata vita in passato, ma poi, mica esiste solo questo sai... :nono:

adesso mi vuoi far passare per uno che è passato di qui asserendo di sapere tutto su marte, ma stiamo sempre al solito punto, sto discutendo con la tua dialettica creativa :D
boh, il discorso sulla vita passata mica l'ho capito molto e nemmeno perchè tu creda che io pensi esista solo quello, ariboh

ops ho appena visto un ufo marziano :sofico: :D

gpc

25-06-2004, 07:11

Rispondo dopo perchè non ho tempo...
Comunqe von Clausewitz, l'esplorazione spaziale non è mai stato qualcosa che ti ha cambiato la vita da un giorno all'altro.
Anche se queste missioni non fossero nulla di epocale come dici tu (sbagliando), servono per poterne pianificare altre di più "sensazionali".
Comunque poi ti rispondo con più calma appena posso...

GioFX

25-06-2004, 09:35

Originariamente inviato da von Clausewitz
boh adesso che gridi a fare, ho detto evidentemente non leggi che una parte delle risorse a mio parere sproporzionate su marte le avrei dirottate su altri progetti d'osservazione principalmente extrasolari

Sproporzionate? 350 milioni di euro è un cazzo su un badget di quasi 2,8 miliardi di euro, ancora meno gli 800 miliodi di dollari della NASA per la missione MER su un badget per l'anno fiscale 2002 pari a 12 MILIARDI di dollari.

Allora vorrei sapere per te che vuol dire spendere 4 miliardi l'anno solo per la gestione degli Shuttle...

E poi, hai idea della quantità di missioni scientifiche sul sistema solare e il resto dell'universo (Deep Space Program) che sono in atto da parte delle due principali agenzia spaziali del mondo? Rosetta, Deep Impact, Soho, SST, HST, JWST, MESSENGER, CASSINI-HYUGENS, etc. etc.?

non è che la scienza e tantomeno quella astronomica cominci e finisca col contare tutti i ciotoli marziani e scoprire prima o poi un ghiacciolo d'acqua conservato alla temperatura di meno 100 gradi centigradi

Bah, io ti consiglierei sempre di informarti prima di parlare, non dico di perdere il tempo a studiare qualcosa in merito... ma vedi, oltre al fatto che contare i ciotoli marziani è una tua assurda caricatura, l'interesse scientifico su Marte è principalmente quello di conoscere nel dettaglio, il più possibile (E CON LA SPESA MINORE, l'uso dei due robot si è reso nessario per avere una ridondanza necessaria a prevenire un nuovo fallimento della missione...), capire la sua evoluzione e ci sia stata (come ormai è certo) un'abbondante quantità d'acqua sulla superficie per diverse migliaia di anni.

Oltretutto, si sta cercando non tanto acqua allo stato di permafrost (come è stata trovata prima per deduzione da parte di Mars Global Survejor, e poi per analisi diretta da Mars Express), magari mischiata con CO2 ai due poli, ma allo stato LIQUIDO, imprigionata (è assai probabile) sotto la crosta marziana. Questo è proprio il compito del radar MARSIS.

gpc

25-06-2004, 11:21

Certo che criticare le scoperte fatte senza nemmeno sapere quali strumenti sono a bordo delle sonde... :rolleyes:

GioFX

22-08-2004, 10:14

International interplanetary networking from Mars

MISSION CONTROL REPORT
Posted: August 18, 2004

One of NASA's Mars rovers has sent pictures relayed by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter for the first time, demonstrating that the orbiter could serve as a communications link if needed.

The link-up was part of a set of interplanetary networking demonstrations paving the way for future Mars missions to rely on these networking capabilities. The American and European agencies planned them as part of continuing efforts to cooperate in space exploration.

On Aug. 4, as Mars Express flew over NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, the orbiter received data previously collected and stored by the rover. The data, including 15 images from the rover's nine cameras, were subsequently forwarded to the European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany, and immediately relayed to the rover team based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Mars Express also is demonstrating two other networking modes with Opportunity and the twin rover, Spirit, between Aug. 3 and Aug. 13.

Two NASA orbiters, Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor, have relayed most data the rovers have produced since they landed in January. In addition, Mars Express demonstrated communication compatibility with the rovers in February, but at a low rate that did not convey much data. The Aug. 4 session, receiving 42.6 megabits from Opportunity in about 6 minutes, set a new mark for international networking at another planet.

The ability for a European mission and a NASA mission to communicate with each other at Mars required years of groundwork on Earth, said JPL engineer Peter Shames. Both Mars Express and the rovers use a communications protocol called Proximity-1. The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, an international partnership for standardizing techniques used for handling space data, developed Proximity-1.

Mars Express was 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) above Mars' surface during the Aug. 4 session with Opportunity. In that session, the goal was reliable transfer of lots of data. The orbiter was about four times higher when it listened to Spirit on Aug. 3 and Aug. 6. Those sessions demonstrated a mode useful for catching fewer bits of a weaker signal during critical events, such as a landing or an approach to another craft for a rendezvous in orbit. The final session of the series, scheduled for Aug. 13 with Opportunity, was to demonstrate a mode for gaining navigational information from the Doppler shift in the radio signal.

"Establishing a reliable communication network around Mars or other planets is crucial for future exploration missions," said Con McCarthy of the European Space Agency's Mars Express project. "This will allow ESA and NASA to more accurately track spacecraft during their approach, atmospheric entry and even descent, as well as to increase the coverage and the amount of data that can be brought back to Earth."

"We're delighted how well this has been working, and thankful to have Mars Express in orbit," said JPL's Richard Horttor, project manager for NASA's role in Mars Express.

JPL engineer Gary Noreen of the Mars Network Office said, "The capabilities that our international teamwork is advancing this month could be important in future exploration of Mars."

JPL's Dr. Mark Adler, Mars Exploration Rover mission manager, said, "A lot of the people who have worked on the Mars Exploration Rovers will be working on future Mars missions or have already switched to working on future missions, so we are very glad to see these capabilities demonstrated."

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

gpc

24-08-2004, 13:27

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_methane_040824.html

Scientists Seek Scent of Life in Methane at Mars
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 24 August, 2004
07:00 a..m. ET

Sniffing out any whiff of biology on Mars has become a scientific battle of the bands – spectral bands that is.

The purported detection of methane in the martian atmosphere by Mars Express, the European Space Agency (ESA) probe now orbiting the red planet, has sparked measurable debate.

ESA announced late last March that the Mars Express Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) had observed methane. That instrument is built to detect the presence of particular molecules by analyzing their 'spectral fingerprints' - the specific way each molecule absorbs the sunlight it receives.

While the amount of methane seen by the PFS is very small – about 10 parts in a thousand million – the implications of the detection are large. Perhaps Mars isn’t a planet waiting to exhale, but one that is a thriving world of panting microbes?

According to ESA experts, methane, unless it is continuously produced by a source, only survives in the martian atmosphere for a few hundreds of years because it quickly oxidizes to form water and carbon dioxide - both present in the martian atmosphere.

So what’s refilling the atmosphere with methane?

Methane measurements

On the one hand, methane production could be linked to volcanic or hydrothermal activity on Mars, although no volcanic activity has been detected on the planet to date.

Alternatively, many types of microbes produce a signature of methane. On Earth, methane is a by-product of biological activity, such as fermentation. Biological sources, such as those associated with peat bogs, rice fields and cud-chewing animals constantly supply fresh gas to replace that destroyed by oxidation.

"The first thing to understand is how exactly the methane is distributed in the martian atmosphere," says Vittorio Formisano, principal investigator for the PFS instrument at the Istituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario in Rome, Italy.

"Since the methane presence is so small, we need to take more measurements. Only then will we have enough data to make a statistical analysis and understand whether there are regions of the atmosphere where methane is more concentrated," Formisano explained in an ESA press statement.

Ground-based looks

Adding to the Mars Express methane saga are reports from scientists using ground-based telescopes that, indeed, traces of the gas have also been spotted.

One independent U.S. team, led by Michael Mumma of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has also weighed in on the methane on Mars question.

Mumma reported last year at the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences that methane had been detected using super-sensitive infrared spectrometers mounted to the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachón in Chile and at the W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The bottom line, Mumma said, is that sorting out the signature of methane is not an easy task.

"I've looked at some of the PFS spectra in the methane region, and am skeptical," Mumma said. "I think they have not yet convinced the community they are detecting CH4 (methane)."

More work is needed to model and strip out the spectra from known constituents within the martian atmosphere, and then compare the residuals with synthesized CH4 spectra, Mumma said. At this point in time, "the community has reserved judgment on the PFS results," he concluded.

Near the limits of detection

There’s no doubt that detecting methane eking out of Mars would be extremely important if true.

The implication, if it turns out to be really there, is that the methane can only be produced by some active process that churns out new methane - such as volcanic activity or certain types of living organisms: methanogens. A methanogen is a microorganism that produces methane from the reaction of hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

"In either case, we would have discovered that Mars is an active planet today," said Benton Clark, a Mars Exploration Rover team scientist from Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Denver, Colorado. "Localizing the source would be of great interest and would point to future exploration."

However, measurements taken to date from Earth and by the Mars Express can be challenged because they are near the limits of detection, Clark told SPACE.com.

Taking to the air

Clark said that the proposed NASA Mars Volcanic Emission and Life (MARVEL) Scout mission would detect methane with 100 to 1000 times better sensitivity from orbit, and also be able to localize it on the red planet.

In addition, taking to the air – by literally flying over the martian surface -- is another way to spot methane.

For example, Clark said, a proposed Mars airplane, the Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES), is under the wing of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. It is designed to tote instruments that can target methane and other gases for measurement as it flies over red planet real estate.

"I think too much has been written about these [Mars Express] observations in the press in the absence of formal scientific review," said Mark Allen, an Earth and planetary atmospheres Research scientist in the Earth and Space Sciences Division at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. He is also the principal investigator for the proposed MARVEL Scout.

Without peer reviewed assessments of the Mars Express findings, Allen said, any comment on the observations would be premature.

"At best these observations are tantalizing, since the experiment seems to be operating at the limit of its sensitivity. However, the implications for extant habitability and inhabitance of Mars are tremendous," Allen said. "I would hope that NASA is interested in pursuing this subject and might find a mission with much more sensitivity and capability for locating surface point sources -- such as MARVEL -- highly attractive for selection next time," he suggested.

Proceed with caution

Also in the still to be convinced category in regards to the Mars Express methane finding is James Garvin, NASA Chief Scientist for Mars and the Moon, in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

"Most of what we have seen from the Mars Express PFS does not yet suggest that it is wholly reproducible and even localizable," Garvin suggested. His advice, as a NASA scientist steeped in ever-growing volumes of new Mars data: proceed with caution, examine multiple lines of detection and then the basic chemistry of the processes - before leaping to conclusions.

Garvin noted that the PFS on Mars Express is an outstanding Fourier spectrometer which could, under appropriate circumstances, detect methane at 10's of parts per billion levels - but across a large control volume of the martian atmosphere which is relatively well mixed.

There is far more evidence, Garvin continued, for the possibility of recent, highly localized volcanism -- as fumaroles or local hydrothermal vents -- than for anything to do with subsurface microbial systems.

"If you were to ask me, any methane we may be seeing must be volcanogenic on the basis of what scant real scientific evidence we have... or it could even be some sort of ‘oddball’ result of asteroidal impact that we have not fully understood," Garvin speculated.

Looking to the future, Garvin pointed to the launchings of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005, the Phoenix lander in 2007, and the wheeled Mars Science Laboratory in 2009.

Each will help puzzle out further the red planet’s past history and present-day condition. And each will, at least in part, address the existence of disequilibrium trace gases – such as methane – using new approaches, including on-the-spot mass spectrometry, he said.

GioFX

23-09-2004, 23:18

A new clue from Mars?

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY NEWS RELEASE
Posted: September 20, 2004

Recent analyses of ESA's Mars Express data reveal that concentrations of water vapour and methane in the atmosphere of Mars significantly overlap. This result, from data obtained by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), gives a boost to understanding of geological and atmospheric processes on Mars, and provides important new hints to evaluate the hypothesis of life present on the Red Planet.

PFS observed that, at 10-15 kilometres above the surface, water vapour is well mixed and uniform in the atmosphere. However, it found that, close to the surface, water vapour is more concentrated in three broad equatorial regions: Arabia Terra, Elysium Planum and Arcadia-Memnonia.

Here, the concentration is two to three times higher than in other regions observed. These areas of water vapour concentration also correspond to the areas where NASA's Odyssey spacecraft has observed a water ice layer a few tens of centimetres below the surface, as Dr Vittorio Formisano, PFS principal investigator, reports.

New in-depth analysis of PFS data also confirms that methane is not uniform in the atmosphere, but concentrated in some areas. The PFS team observed that the areas of highest concentration of methane overlap with the areas where water vapour and underground water ice are also concentrated. This spatial correlation between water vapour and methane seems to point to a common underground source.

Initial speculation has taken the underground ice layer into account. This could be explained by the 'ice table' concept, in which geothermal heat from below the surface makes water and other material move towards the surface. It would then freeze before getting there, due to the very low surface temperature (many tens of degrees Celsius below zero).

Further investigations are needed to fully understand the correlation between the ice table and the presence and distribution of water vapour and methane in the atmosphere.

In other words, can the geothermal processes which 'feed' the ice table also bring water vapour and other gases, like methane, to the surface? Can there be liquid water below the ice table? Can forms of bacterial life exist in the water below the ice table, producing methane and other gases and releasing them to the surface and then to the atmosphere?

The PFS instrument has also detected traces of other gases in the Martian atmosphere. A report on these is currently under peer review. Further studies will address whether these gases can be linked to water and methane and help answer the unresolved questions. In-situ observations by future lander missions to Mars may provide a more exhaustive solution to the puzzle.

The result is reported Monday, by Dr Vittorio Formisano at the International Mars Conference (19-23 September), organised by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in Ischia, Italy.

The objective of the PFS instrument is the study, with unprecedented spectral resolution, of temperature fields in the atmosphere, dust, variation and cycle of water and carbon monoxide, vertical distribution of water, soil-atmosphere interactions and minor gaseous species. From this, hints of extant life can be extracted (in terms of the presence of 'biomarker' gases and chemical study of atmospheric environmental conditions).

The PFS is an Italian Space Agency instrument, developed by the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), in the framework of ESA Mars Express mission.

GioFX

09-10-2004, 15:52

Da Newscientist.com (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996509):

Mars Express 'divining rod' mission delayed

18:33 08 October 04

NewScientist.com news service

A spindly radar antenna - which could discover underground water on Mars - will now not deploy on Europe's Mars Express spacecraft until at least March 2005, say mission scientists.

That represents about a year's delay for the experiment, which has been postponed repeatedly over concerns that the 40-metre-long antenna could smack into the spacecraft on deployment.

The main antenna for MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) consists of wires strung inside two 20-metre-long fibreglass tubes the width of a shower rail. It will act as a divining rod, scouting for water as deep as several kilometres below ground.

The folded tubes had been scheduled to pop out of opposite ends of a storage box on the side of the orbiter in April 2004. This was postponed after computer simulations of a similar antenna called Sharad - due to be launched to Mars on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in August 2005 - suggested the cold temperatures of space could boost the springiness of the antennae. This could make the segments swing out and snap backwards - hitting the craft or wrapping around crucial components.

Impact probability

Until recently, scientists hoped MARSIS would deploy in late November. But European Space Agency (ESA) officials have now postponed this until March at the earliest after meeting with NASA, which is managing the project, on 5 October.

"In order for us to say this is benign, or there's a particular probability of impact, we have to do more analyses," says MARSIS manager William Johnson, a physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Scientists at NASA and at the antenna's manufacturer, Astro Aerospace of Carpinteria, California, expect to finish physical tests of the antenna within days. Several weeks of computer modelling - incorporating the test results - will follow. ESA should then issue a verdict on when they will deploy MARSIS, if at all.

The test results so far have been mixed. Using samples of the antenna tubing and a full-scale MARSIS model that had been folded up since before the mission launched in June 2003, the team conducted vacuum-chamber tests down to -100 °C.

Mixed results

They found, to their delight, that the antenna sprang out with less energy than expected. But it also buckled more easily, making the exact behaviour of the deployment tricky to predict.

Johnson says the antenna will extend to its full length in several seconds and take about 30 seconds to settle into relative stability before swinging slowly for several minutes. Ongoing simulations will provide estimates of how often the antenna is likely to hit the spacecraft.

But each 20-m tube weighs less than 1 kilogram. "So even if it hit very hard, it probably wouldn't hurt anything," Johnson told New Scientist. "But probably isn't good enough."

"Everybody is rooting for us to get the experiment started, but we're being prudent," says experiment co-leader Jeff Plaut of NASA's JPL.

Gaping canyons

"It holds the promise of changing the way we think about Mars," he adds. Nearly all of the water detected on Mars to date is locked in polar ice which, if spread evenly over the planet, would be just a few tens of metres deep. But gaping canyons and other features seemingly carved by ancient water suggest the hypothetical layer was once 1 to 2 kilometres deep.

Plaut says: "One of the overarching questions for Mars is: where did all that water go?" While some water was likely lost to space, the rest may be underground. And MARSIS could find it if it lurks within the top 5 km of the crust.

The existence of Martian water “has implications for…possible human habitation", Plaut told New Scientist. Colonists could drill wells to tap it, or natural tectonic events could create surface springs. "We know groundwater on Earth is an environment for microorganisms - that ties the work to questions of life as well," Plaut says.

March may be the next best opportunity for deployment because, from January until March, Mars Express will swing through the planet's shadow during each six-hour orbit, forcing the craft to rely on battery power - which can fail - rather than solar energy.

Maggie McKee

gpc

09-10-2004, 20:01

Oh, credevo che si fossero dimenticati di avere un'antenna da far funzionare... :sofico:

Uff, che palle comunque, tocca aspettare ancora... :(

GioFX

09-10-2004, 23:45

Originariamente inviato da gpc
Oh, credevo che si fossero dimenticati di avere un'antenna da far funzionare... :sofico:

Uff, che palle comunque, tocca aspettare ancora... :(

Credo che vogliano andarci coi piedi di piombo... e fanno bene, inutile rischiare di danneggiare l'intera missione per una parte di essa, seppur rilevante... che si muovano però al JPL a fare le simulazioni del caso! :muro: :O :p

gpc

19-03-2005, 12:03

Mentre non c'è ancora nessuna notizia sui dati raccolti dal radar per il rilevamento dell'acqua, che non ho ancora capito se è in funzione o meno, pare che abbiano trovato un ghiacciaio:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMN3IRMD6E_0.html

http://www.esa.int/images/179-170305-0451-6-co-01_L.jpg

GioFX

03-05-2005, 22:55

Mars Express radar package to be deployed

NASA/JPL NEWS RELEASE
Posted: May 2, 2005

The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter will soon deploy its radar instrument for the first time. The instrument is designed to look below the surface of Mars for different layers of material, most notably water.

Once the deployment is successful, the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (Marsis) instrument will complement the orbiter's study of the planet's atmosphere and surface. The instrument was funded by NASA and the Italian Space Agency and developed by the University of Rome, Italy, in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The instrument's co-principal investigator, Dr. Jeffrey Plaut of JPL said, "We look forward to the start of the Marsis experiment, and to becoming full partners in the mission of discovery that is Mars Express. The radar gives us two ways to explore the fate of the water that once flowed on the surface of Mars. We will probe beneath the surface for evidence of frozen or liquid reservoirs, and we will study the outer fringes of Mars' atmosphere, where the planet may have lost its water to space."

The deployment of the three radar booms will take place in three phases, in a window spanning from May 2 to 12. These operations will be initiated and monitored from the European Space Agency's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Each boom will be deployed separately, with the two 20-meter-long (66-foot-long) dipole booms to be unfurled first and the 7-meter (23-foot) monopole boom to follow a few days later.

Before each deployment, the spacecraft will be placed in a Œrobust' attitude control mode, which will allow it to tumble freely while the boom extends before regaining standard pointing to the Sun and Earth.

The result of each deployment can be assessed only after a series of tests, each taking a few days. After the deployment of the three booms, European Space Agency engineers will start the analysis of the complete behavior of the satellite to be able to confirm the overall success of the operation. The current schedule is subject to change, due to the timing and nature of the complex series of operations.

Once deployment is complete, the Marsis instrument will undergo three weeks of commissioning before the start of actual science investigations. This timing coincides with the spacecraft's orbit reaching a favorable position to examine one of the prime targets for radar observations.

JPL's Richard Horttor, project manager for NASA's roles in the Mars Express mission, said, "The first data from the radar next month will signal the success of an innovative international partnership." Italy provided the instrument's digital processing system and integrated the parts. The University of Iowa, Iowa City, built the transmitter for the instrument, JPL built the receiver and Astro Aerospace, Carpinteria, Calif., built the antenna.

JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

gpc

03-05-2005, 23:44

Era ora... son proprio curioso :sbav:

Gio, oltre ad Alenia e ESA chi c'è nei dintorni che si occupa di spazio?

GioFX

04-05-2005, 08:29

Era ora... son proprio curioso :sbav:

Gio, oltre ad Alenia e ESA chi c'è nei dintorni che si occupa di spazio?

Nei dintorni di che? Nel progetto c'è l'Università di Roma...

se dici nel nostro paese, ci sono, oltre ai diversi dipartimenti dei principali atenei, l'ASI, Finmeccanica (Alenia Spazio, Alenia Marconi Systems, Telespazio, Galileo Avionica), Altair Engineering, Avio (ex-Fiat Avio) oltre naturalmente a pochissime altre ditte specializzate a supporto.

CRF (Centro Ricerche Fiat) e Ferrari sono le uniche altre grosse realtà industriali con un notevole know-how in alcuni aspetti di ingegneria aerospaziale.

gpc

04-05-2005, 08:33

Nei dintorni di che? Nel progetto c'è l'Università di Roma...

se dici nel nostro paese, ci sono, oltre ai diversi dipartimenti dei principali atenei, l'ASI, Finmeccanica (Alenia Spazio, Alenia Marconi Systems, Telespazio, Galileo Avionica), Altair Engineering, Avio (ex-Fiat Avio) oltre naturalmente a pochissime altre ditte specializzate a supporto.

CRF (Centro Ricerche Fiat) e Ferrari sono le uniche altre grosse realtà industriali con un notevole know-how in alcuni aspetti di ingegneria aerospaziale.

Con "nei dintorni" intendevo in uno spazio compreso tra l'oceano, artico, mediterraneo e gli Urali... :sofico:

GioFX

04-05-2005, 22:23

:Prrr:

GioFX

10-05-2005, 10:12

Deployment of Mars Express' second radar boom delayed

ESA NEWS RELEASE
Posted: May 9, 2005

The deployment of the second antenna boom of the Mars Express Sub-Surface Sounding Radar Altimeter (MARSIS) science experiment has been delayed pending investigation of an anomaly found during deployment of the first antenna boom.

The anomaly was discovered on 7 May towards the end of the first deployment operations. Deployment of the first boom started on Wednesday 4 May. The problem with the boom was confirmed by flight control engineers working at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, on 7 May, after which further activity was stopped pending a full assessment of the situation.

The decision to delay deployment of Boom 2 pending clarification of the situation and implications was made on 8 May.

Mission controllers were able to determine that 12 of the 13 boom segments of Boom 1 were correctly locked into position. However, one of the final segments, possibly No. 10, had deployed but was not positively locked into position.

It was determined that deployment of the second boom should be delayed in order to determine what implications the anomaly in the first boom may have on the conditions for deploying the second.

This decision is in line with initial plans which had allowed for a delay should any anomalous events occur during the first boom deployment.

Mission staff will now take the time necessary to investigate the boom situation. Foreseen outcomes include confirming that all segments of Boom 1 have been locked into place and determining how the deployment of Boom 1 may affect that of Boom 2.

All efforts will be made to ensure the safety of the spacecraft overall and to minimise any effects on the operations of ongoing science activity on board Mars Express.

The MARSIS experiment is to map the Martian sub-surface structure to a depth of a few kilometres. The instrument's 40-metre long antenna booms will send low frequency radio waves towards the planet, which will be reflected from any surface they encounter.

MARSIS is one of seven science experiments carried on board Mars Express, one of the most successful missions ever flown to the Red Planet. Mars Express was launched on 2 June 2003 and entered Mars orbit in December 2003.

gpc

10-05-2005, 10:54

E' diventata 'na telenovela... :nono:

gpc

12-05-2005, 08:36

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMY3R5TI8E_0.html

First MARSIS boom successfully deployed

11 May 2005
Thanks to a manoeuvre performed on 10 May 2005 at 20:20 CET, ESA flight controllers have successfully completed the deployment of the first boom of the MARSIS radar on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft.

After the start of the deployment of the first 20-metre boom on 4 May, analysis by flight controllers at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany, had shown that although 12 out of the 13 boom segments were in place, one of the outermost segments, possibly No. 10, had deployed but was not locked into position.

Deployment of the second (20 m) and third (7 m) booms was suspended pending a full analysis and assessment of the situation.

As prolonged storage in the cold conditions of outer space could affect the fibreglass and Kevlar material of the boom, the mission team decided to ‘slew’ (or swing) the 680 kg spacecraft so that the Sun would heat the cold side of the boom. It was hoped that as the cold side expanded in the heat, it would force the unlocked segment into place.

After an hour, Mars Express was pointed back to Earth, and contact re-established at 04:50 CET on 11 May. A detailed analysis of the data received showed that all segments had successfully locked and Boom 1 was fully deployed.

The operations to deploy the remaining two booms could be resumed in a few weeks, after a thorough analysis and investigation of the Boom 1 deployment characteristics.

The Mars Express Sub-Surface Sounding Radar Altimeter (MARSIS) experiment is to map the Martian sub-surface structure to a depth of a few kilometres. The instrument's 40-metre long antenna booms will send low frequency radio waves towards the planet, which will be reflected from any surface they encounter.

MARSIS is one of the seven science experiments carried on board Mars Express, one of the most successful missions ever flown to the Red Planet. Mars Express was launched on 2 June 2003 and entered Mars orbit in December 2003.

GioFX

12-05-2005, 09:22

Riporto l'articolo di SFN.

Mars probe uses solar heating to fix boom glitch

BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: May 11, 2005

Scientists around the world can breathe easier after engineers devised a fix to lock a 65-foot radar boom in place aboard Europe's Mars Express probe in orbit around the Red Planet.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0505/11marsradar/marsradar.jpg
This artist's concept shows the boom deployment for the Mars Express MARSIS experiment. Credit: ESA

Teams at the Mars Express ground control center in Germany had first attempted to deploy the first of three such structures last week. By May 7 * as one boom the so-called "dipole" antenna extended and testing commenced * officials noticed data from the spacecraft indicating that one of 13 segments had not fully locked in place.

Controllers determined there was an issue from downlinked telemetry showing disturbances in the performance of the craft's three laser gyroscopes, mission manager Fred Jansen explained.

Engineers traced the anomaly to the location around segment 10, and immediately halted the planned operation to extend another 65-foot boom component on the opposite side of the spacecraft.

After studying the problem for several days, the ground team commanded Mars Express to turn Tuesday to place the suspect part in sunlight in hopes of allowing heat expansion to nudge the segment into the locked position.

As programmed, the spacecraft then began to swing back toward Earth to re-establish radio contact, controllers could confirm on Wednesday that the boom was fully secured.

The past few weeks of troubleshooting "slightly" impacted normal science observations with other payloads, Jansen said.

"We are already focusing on getting back to science operations as soon as possible."

These two antenna booms and another downward-facing 23-foot extension also awaiting deployment make up the joint Italian-American Mars Advanced Radar for Sub-surface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument, or MARSIS. This is the final science payload aboard Mars Express to be activated since the probe arrived at the planet in December 2003.

Made of a series of folding fiberglass tubes about 1.5 inches in diameter surrounding electrical and data wiring, the two 65-foot "dipole" booms act as both transmission and reception antennas for radar waves sent deep inside Mars to search for evidence of water. The smaller 23-foot "monopole" extension simply receives and cancels out "clutter signals" to improve the accuracy of the results.

Officials had originally expected to have all three antennas deployed by this Friday, but plans now call for a comprehensive review and investigation of the problem uncovered last week to ensure it does not occur again.

"This particular failure case was not identified before," said Jansen.

Deployments of the two remaining booms could resume over the next few weeks, according to a European Space Agency statement. Three weeks of subsequent commissioning activities will take place before science observations begin.

The first-of-its-kind MARSIS instrument works by emitting radio waves toward the surface of Mars and analyzing the beams reflected back to the spacecraft to search for signs of underground reservoirs of liquid water. Today, water does not exist on the surface in its liquid form, but instead is permanently trapped in polar ice caps.

Such long antennas are needed for the transmission and reception of radio waves due to the extremely low frequencies and long wavelengths associated with the radar beams. These waves will be able to penetrate the surface up to a depth of up to three miles to search for the signature of water. As the signals are bounced back into space, data will be gathered that could also map out ancient lava flows and other rock boundaries.

***

Commento personale: bravi per l'intuizione! :eek:

Duncan

12-05-2005, 10:15

Ho provato a trradurre ma senza esiti positivi per la mia comprensione... cosa avrebbero fatto?

Hanno avuto problemi con le comunicazioni mi pare di aver capito e poi?

gpc

12-05-2005, 10:44

Duncan

13-05-2005, 08:20

Grazie... non avevo capito una mazza... :D

GioFX

13-05-2005, 09:49

No, niente problemi di comunicazione.
Devono spiegare le antenne del radar per scandagliare il sottosuolo, solo che la prima non si era stesa per bene. Hanno girato la sonda verso il sole per riscaldare l'antenna e s'è messa a posto... questo in poche parole...

si vabbè ma detta in termini più elucubrati...

Tutti i pacchetti scientifici della missione Mars Express sono stati attivati ad eccezione del MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding, un radar altimetro ad alta frequenza costituito da 2 antenne dipolari ed una monopolare, http://www.marsis.com).

Questo strumento doveva essere attivato e commissionato già nell'aprile del 2004, ma è stata inizialmente (e poi ripetutamente) ritardata la sua messa in servizio a causa del risultato degli ultimi test della fase di deployment... in pratica si è visto che l'unfolding dell'antenna principale (lunga 23 m) poteva destabilizzare la navicella. E' stato messo a punto quindi un piano per ridurre al minimo questa eventualità e infatti il dispiegamento del primo braccio dell'antenna è andato bene se non per il fatto che uno dei segmenti finali (il 10°) si è dispiegato ma non si è bloccato correttamente nella posizione definitiva a causa della temeperatura, cosa che infatti si è risolta facendo riscaldare il braccio dell'antenna dopo aver fatto ruotare Mars Express verso il sole...

gpc

13-05-2005, 10:01

Eh vabbè, ma tiratela di meno :sofico:
Hai letto comunque che Opportunity è impantanato?

GioFX

13-05-2005, 10:25

Eh vabbè, ma tiratela di meno :sofico:

:O :fagiano:

Hai letto comunque che Opportunity è impantanato?

si si, certo... sabato o domenica, con calma, posto gli update delle altre missioni. ;)

GioFX

08-06-2005, 23:03

European Space Agency approves Mars boom deploy

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY NEWS RELEASE
Posted: June 7, 2005

Following in-depth analyses performed after the deployment of the first MARSIS antenna boom on board Mars Express, the European Space Agency has decided to proceed with the deployment of the second 20-metre antenna boom.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0506/07marsradar/marsradar.jpg
The second antenna of the Mars Express radar MARSIS (indicated by the red arrow) is due to be deployed in mid-June. Credit: ESA

The full operation will be performed during a time frame starting 13 June and nominally ending on 21 June.

A delay in the execution of the second boom deployment was necessary, due to problems encountered with the first deployment in early May this year. During the deployment, one of the antenna hinges (the tenth) got stuck in an unlocked position. Analysis of data obtained from earlier ground testing suggested a potential solution.

The Mars Express spacecraft control team at ESA¹s Spacecraft Operations Centre (ESOC) succeeded in unblocking the hinge by exposing the cold side of the boom to the Sun. This warmed the hinges and the boom quickly became unstuck. In the end, the first boom deployment was completed on 10 May.

The lessons learnt during the first boom deployment were used to run new simulations and determine a new deployment scenario for the second boom. This scenario contains an additional sun-heating phase, to get the best possible thermal conditions for all hinges.

The deployment of the third (7-metre) third MARSIS boom is not considered critical. It will be commanded only once the ESA ground control team have re-acquired signal from the spacecraft, and made sure with a sequence of tests that the second boom is correctly locked into position and the spacecraft is well under control.

After this event MARSIS, the Mars Express Sub-Surface Radar Altimeter, will enter into a commissioning phase for the next few weeks, before starting to look at Mars¹s ionosphere during martian daylight, and to probe down below the Martian surface during the martian night.

GioFX

10-07-2005, 17:37

...

GioFX

10-07-2005, 17:40

...

gpc

10-07-2005, 19:05

Hai sbagliato thread :read:

GioFX

10-07-2005, 23:57

acci... grassie gp, è che inserendo il topic della nuova missione nell'elenco non ho modificato il link preso da questo thread :doh:!

gpc

11-07-2005, 09:40

acci... grassie gp, è che inserendo il topic della nuova missione nell'elenco non ho modificato il link preso da questo thread :doh:!

E' l'età che avanza :old: :D

GioFX

11-07-2005, 11:31

E' l'età che avanza :old: :D

:mbe:

duchetto

22-07-2005, 11:29

Roma, 21 luglio 2005 - Due o tre settimane ancora, poi la scienza potrebbe svelare se su Marte c'è acqua. A dieci giorni dall'inizio del suo funzionamento scientifico, il radar Marsis ha infatti mandato i primi segnali e le prime importanti informazioni dal pianeta rosso, da cui gli scienziati hanno ora estratto le prime immagini mai catturate al mondo dall'uomo del sottosuolo di Marte.

A diffondere oggi queste prime straordinarie immagini è l 'Agenzia Spaziale Italiana che gestisce, con un team internazionale, il radar Marsis, uno strumento inventato e interamente realizzato dal nostro Paese.

Montato a bordo della sonda europea dell'Esa Mars Express, il radar Marsis (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) è stato ideato da Giovanni Picardi, docente del Dipartimento di Info-Com dell'Università di Roma La Sapienza, che è anche principal investigator del progetto.

«Queste immagini ci dicono che Marsis funziona, è già questo un dato importante. Ma, una volta lette e interpretate, queste immagini potranno dirci anche se c'è presenza di acqua nel sottosuolo di Marte. E, se sarà riscontrata presenza di acqua, significa che potrebbero esserci le condizioni per anche trovare forme di vita autoctona», spiega Enrico Flamini, dell'Unità di Osservazione dell'Universo dell'Asi e tra i massimi esperti italiani di Marte.

«La presenza di acqua, inoltre, -spiega ancora Flamini- significherebbe che, in caso di esplorazione umana del pianeta rosso, ci sarà possibilità di sopravvivenza per gli astronauti che vi andranno».

«Ci vorranno due, forse tre settimane per avere risposte da queste immagini e dai dati forniti da Marsis perché -dice Flamini- Non si tratta di ricezione di immagini fotografiche come avviene con altri strumenti e quindi ormai di collaudata e di immediata comprensione per gli scienziati. Da Marsis arrivano invece informazioni del tutto nuove e diverse e che, per questo, richiedono tempi più lunghi per l'interpretazione».

«È la prima volta in assoluto, infatti, - sottolinea lo scienziato italiano - che uno strumento del genere sta funzionando su un pianeta. L'analisi dei dati forniti dal radar necessita per questo molto tempo. Marsis -spiega ancora Flamini- è un radar sub-superficiale in grado di misurare anche il contenuto delle cariche elettriche presenti nell'atmosfera di Marte».

Marsis, dopo l'apertura delle sue lunghe antenne, sta ormai lavorando a pieno ritmo nello spazio da circa 16 giorni e ad ogni orbita , e ne fa tre in un'intera giornata, in totale ne ha già realizzate 50 circa, passa vicino alla superficie di Marte riuscendo, come una sorta di sonar, a mandare segnali che sondano in profondità la crosta marziana.

Le immagini diffuse oggi, inoltre, sono estratte dai segnali acquisiti da Marsis che, come una sorta di continuo 'elettrocardiogramma', vengono inviate ai diversi centri di ricezione a terra ed elaborate dagli scienziati.

.«Per far arrivare sotto la superficie di Marte le onde del radar -continua Flamini - è necessario che la superficie del pianeta da sondare sia in ombra, e questo perchè il Sole crea un grosso disturbo elettromagnetico. Ecco perché - aggiunge - Marsis resterà acceso fino a metà agosto, poi sarà spento, per essere riattivato a dicembre prossimo, cioè fino a quando il pericentro del satellite europeo Mars Express, al cui interno si trova Marsis, tornerà ad essere in una zona di ombra».

gpc

22-07-2005, 11:44

Ma che strano, sul sito della missione non ne parla... :mbe:

duchetto

29-07-2005, 22:57

nell'attesa dei risultati di marsis godiamoci questa immagine di un lago ghiacciato sul polo nord marziano

http://www.esa.int/images/212-010705-1343-6-3d-01-CraterIce_L.jpg

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMGKA808BE_1.html

:cool: :cool:

gpc

29-07-2005, 23:03

:sbav:issimo...
Domattina mentre faccio colazione me le guardo...

GioFX

24-09-2005, 19:25

Europe space officials extend Mars Express mission

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY NEWS RELEASE
Posted: September 23, 2005

ESA's Mars Express mission has been extended by one Martian year, or about 23 months, from the beginning of December 2005.

The decision, taken by ESA's Science Programme Committee, allows the spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet to continue building on the legacy of its own scientific success.

Coordinated from the beginning with the Mars science and exploration activities of other agencies, Mars Express has revealed an increasingly complex picture of Mars. Since the start of science operations in early 2004, new aspects of Mars are emerging day by day, thanks to Mars Express data. These include its present-day climate system, and its geological 'activity' and diversity. Mars Express has also started mapping water in its various states.

In building up a global data set for composition and characteristics of the surface and atmosphere, Mars Express has revealed that volcanic and glacial processes are much more recent than expected. It has confirmed the presence of glacial processes in the equatorial regions, and mapped water and carbon dioxide ice, either mixed or distinct, in the polar regions.

Through mineralogical analysis, it found out that large bodies of water, such as lakes or seas, might not have existed for a long period of time on the Martian surface.

Mars Express has also detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. This, together with the possible detection of formaldehyde, suggests either current volcanic activity on Mars, or, more excitingly, that there are current active 'biological' processes. This hypothesis may be reinforced by the fact that Mars Express saw that the distribution of water vapour and methane, both ingredients for life, substantially overlap in some regions of the planet.

Furthermore, the mission detected aurorae for the first time on the Red Planet. It has made global mapping of the density and pressure of the atmosphere between 10 and 100 kilometres altitude, and studied atmospheric escape processes in the upper layers of the atmosphere. This is contributing to our understanding of the weather and climate evolution of the planet.

There is still much to be discovered by the extraordinary set of instruments on board Mars Express. First, the 23-month extension will enable the Mars Express radar, MARSIS, to restart Martian night-time measurements in December this year.

MARSIS will continue its subsurface studies mainly in the search for liquid and frozen water. By combining subsurface, surface and atmospheric data, Mars Express will provide an unprecedented global picture of Mars and, in particular, its water.

So far, the High Resolution Stereo Camera has imaged only 19% of the Martian surface at high resolution. In the extended phase, it will be able to continue the 3D high-resolution colour imaging. After the Viking missions, Mars Express is building today's legacy of Mars imagery for present and future generations of scientists.

Thanks to the extension, Mars Express will also be able to study for a second year the way the atmosphere varies during different seasons, and to observe again variable phenomena such as frost, fog or ice. Finally, Mars Express will be able to revisit those areas where major discoveries, such as new volcanic structures, sedimentary layering, methane sources, nightglow and auroras, have been made, thus allowing to confirm and understand all aspects related to these discoveries.

ESA's Mars Express mission was successfully launched on 2 June 2003 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on board a Russian Soyuz rocket with a Fregat upper stage. Besides being Europe's first mission to Mars, Mars Express is the first fully European mission to any planet.

Following the Mars Express spacecraft commissioning at Mars in January 2004, most experiments on board began their calibration and testing phase while already acquiring scientific data. This phase lasted until June 2004 when all the commissioned instruments started their routine operations. The MARSIS radar antenna deployment was postponed for technical reasons until May 2005, and it became operational in July 2005.

Further to providing an impressive wealth of scientific results on its own, Mars Express has also successfully co-operated with NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, in terms of co-ordinated scientific observations and to test Mars Express in relaying the rover data to Earth. Further scientific collaboration between Mars Express and both rovers and Mars Odyssey is expected during the remainder of the nominal mission and the extended mission, and with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission during the extended mission.

GioFX

20-11-2005, 19:55

Mars Express radar data analysis is on the move

ESA NEWS RELEASE
Posted: November 19, 2005

The Mars Express radar, MARSIS, has now been deployed for more than four months. Here we report on the activities so far.

For the operational period up to now, Mars Express has been making its closest approaches to Mars predominantly in the daytime portion of its orbit. The MARSIS radar's scientists are mainly collecting data about the upper layers of the Martian atmosphere, or 'ionosphere', which is the highly electrically conducting layer that is maintained by sunlight.

They are also continuing the laborious analysis of all data gathered during the first night-time observations last summer, especially in the search for and interpretation of possible signals from subsurface layers. This includes the search for a possible signature of underground water, in frozen or liquid state.

Radar science is a complex business - it is based on the detection of radio waves reflected by boundaries between different materials. By analysis of these 'echoes', it is possible to deduce information about the kind of material causing the reflection, such as estimates of its composition and physical state.

Different materials are characterised by their 'dielectric constant', that is the specific way they interact with electromagnetic radiation, such as radio waves. When a radio wave crosses the boundary of different layers of 'material', an echo is generated and carries a sort of 'fingerprint' from the specific materials.

From the time delay for an echo to be received by the radar instrument, the distance or the depth of the layers of material producing the echo can be deduced.

While the Mars Express point closest approach is in daylight, MARSIS is only operating at higher frequencies within its capability because the lower-frequency radio signals get disturbed. With these higher frequencies, MARSIS can study the ionosphere and the surface, while some shallow subsurface sounding can still be attempted.

During night-time observations, like those performed briefly last summer immediately after deployment, it is possible for MARSIS to use all frequencies for scientific measurements, including the lowest ones, suitable for penetrating under the soil of Mars.

Tuning to different frequencies for different targets in different conditions is not the only secret of MARSIS. The instrument, responding to signals reflected from any direction, requires scientists also do a huge amount of analysis work to remove these interfering signals from the echoes.

A typical example of what they look for is 'clutter backscattering', which are reflections apparently coming from the subsurface, but actually produced by irregularities in the surface terrain that delay the return of the echo. For this 'cleaning' work, the team also makes use of 'surface echo simulator' computer programs.

In the first months of operations, MARSIS performed its first ionospheric sounding. The data are converted into typical plots, called 'ionograms', where the altitude at which the echo was generated, deduced by the echo time delay, is given for each transmitted frequency. The intensity of the various echo signals detected is indicated in different colours.

In parallel to the analysis of surface and subsurface signals, the scientists are studying all ionograms to draw the first conclusions on the nature and behaviour of the ionosphere of Mars, and of its interaction with the planet and the surrounding environment.

On 19 September 2005, ESA took the decision to extend the Mars Express mission by one additional Martian year (23 months). The rationale for the decision was also based on giving MARSIS the possibility to continue subsurface observations as of December this year. By then, the pericentre (point of closest approach to the planet) of the Mars Express orbit will be in the Martian night-time.

GioFX

01-12-2005, 23:08

Mars Express finds buried craters, underground ice

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY NEWS RELEASE
Posted: November 30, 2005

For the first time in the history of planetary exploration, the MARSIS radar on board ESA's Mars Express has provided direct information about the deep subsurface of Mars.

First data include buried impact craters, probing of layered deposits at the north pole and hints of the presence of deep underground water-ice. The subsurface of Mars has been so far unexplored territory. Only glimpses of the Martian depths could be deduced through analysis of impact crater and valley walls, and by drawing cross-sections of the crust deduced from geological mapping of the surface.

With measurements taken only for a few weeks during night-time observations last summer, MARSIS - the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding - is already changing our perception of the Red Planet, adding to our knowledge the missing 'third' dimension: the Martian interior.

First results reveal an almost circular structure, about 250 km in diameter, shallowly buried under the surface of the northern lowlands of the Chryse Planitia region in the mid-latitudes on Mars. The scientists have interpreted it as a buried basin of impact origin, possibly containing a thick layer of water-ice-rich material.

To draw this first exciting picture of the subsurface, the MARSIS team studied the echoes of the radio waves emitted by the radar, which passed through the surface and then bounced back in the distinctive way that told the 'story' about the layers penetrated.

These echo structures form a distinctive collection that include parabolic arcs and an additional planar reflecting feature parallel to the ground, 160 km long. The parabolic arcs correspond to ring structures that could be interpreted as the rims of one or more buried impact basins. Other echoes show what may be rim-wall 'slump blocks' or 'peak-ring' features.

The planar reflection is consistent with a flat interface that separates the floor of the basin, situated at a depth of about 1.5 to 2.5 km, from a layer of overlying different material. In their analysis of this reflection, scientists do not exclude the intriguing possibility of a low-density, water-ice-rich material at least partially filling the basin.

"The detection of a large buried impact basin suggests that MARSIS data can be used to unveil a population of hidden impact craters in the northern lowlands and elsewhere on the planet," says Jeffrey Plaut, Co-Principal Investigator on MARSIS. "This may force us to reconsider our chronology of the formation and evolution of the surface."

MARSIS also probed the layered deposits that surround the north pole of Mars, in an area between 10º and 40º East longitude. The interior layers and the base of these deposits are poorly exposed. Prior interpretations could only be based on imaging, topographic measurements and other surface techniques.

Two strong and distinct echoes coming from the area correspond to a surface reflection and subsurface interface between two different materials. By analysis of the two echoes, the scientists were able to draw the likely scenario of a nearly pure, cold water-ice layer thicker than 1 km, overlying a deeper layer of basaltic regolith. This conclusion appears to rule out the hypothesis of a melt zone at the base of the northern layered deposits.

To date, the MARSIS team has not observed any convincing evidence for liquid water in the subsurface, but the search has only just begun. "MARSIS is already demonstrating the capability to detect structures and layers in the subsurface of Mars which are not detectable by other sensors, past or present," says Giovanni Picardi, MARSIS Principal Investigator.

"MARSIS holds exciting promise to address, and possibly solve, a number of open questions of major geological significance," he concluded.

Mars Express was launched on 2 June 2003 and has been orbiting Mars since December 2003. On 19 September, ESA took the decision to extend the mission by one additional Martian year (23 months), as of December 2005.

guyver

02-12-2005, 20:10

scusa se mi intrometto...
MARSIS probed under the icy deposits at the north pole, revealing that they are 1.8 km thick in the region studied. The deposits appear as a layer on the right of the upper image (Image: ASI/NASA/ESA/Univ. of Rome/JPL/MOLA Science Team)
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn8397/dn8397-2_600.jpg
Tratto da:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8397

guyver

02-12-2005, 20:12

Questo invece un possibile cratere sepolto visto da Marsis
http://images.spaceref.com/news/2005/MARSIS_release_2_L.jpg

La posizione del cratere
http://images.spaceref.com/news/2005/MARSIS_release_3_L.jpg

Tratto da:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18411

GioFX

20-12-2005, 23:25

Da Space.com (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/051220_ap_beagle2_found.html):

Mars Probe Beagle 2 Wreckage Found, Scientist Says

By Associated Press

posted: 20 December 2005
11:51 am ET

LONDON (AP)—The British scientist behind the failed Beagle 2 probe said Tuesday he believes he has located the craft's wreckage on the surface of Mars.

Nothing has been heard from Beagle 2—named for the ship that took naturalist Charles Darwin on his 19th-century voyage of discovery—since it separated from its mother ship Dec. 19, 2003. It had been due to land on Mars six days later.

Colin Pillinger, the lead scientist on the mission, said the latest images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft suggested Beagle plunged into a crater near its planned landing site.

While the 143-pound craft is too small to be seen in the pictures, Pillinger said the crater showed signs of a heavy impact.

“There is a lot of disturbance in this crater, particularly a big patch on the north crater wall, which we think is the primary impact site,” Pillinger told the British Broadcasting Corp.

“There are then other features around the crater consistent with the airbags bouncing around and finally falling down into the middle. Then, when you cut the lace, the airbags fall apart giving three very symmetrical triangles.”

Scientists attempted to contact Beagle for months after it disappeared before admitting defeat.

An internal report in 2004 gave no definitive reason for the loss of the craft but suggested Beagle may have hit the planet's surface too hard because Mars' atmosphere was not as dense as expected due to dust storms.

The loss of the probe, which cost the government more than $40 million and the private sector another $80 million, prompted questions in Britain about Europe's ability to participate in the race to Mars.

Pillinger is seeking funds and sponsorship for a fresh mission to Mars, possibly as early as 2007.

Foto sul sito, www.beagle2.com

GioFX

01-03-2008, 12:07

ESA Press Release:

Mars Express one of three orbiters preparing for Phoenix landing

28 February 2008
A trio of NASA and ESA spacecraft orbiting Mars are preparing for the 25 May arrival of NASA's Phoenix lander. ESA's Mars Express has already started adjusting its orbit to provide critical back-up monitoring of Phoenix.

In May, when Phoenix enters the Red Planet's atmosphere at over 20 000 km/h, two NASA spacecraft - Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - will closely monitor the stream of data being transmitted. In case anything goes wrong, NASA has requested that ESA's Mars Express, which has been in orbit around Mars since December 2003, also monitors the 13-minute entry, descent and landing (EDL) phase.

Flight controllers at ESA's Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany, began optimising the Mars Express orbit in November and December 2007, so that in May the spacecraft will have an orbit that is properly 'phased' and provides good visibility of Phoenix's planned trajectory.

A series of orbital adjustments were already necessary for Mars Express science operations, so it cost little additional fuel to accommodate NASA's request. Final orbital adjustments may still be required depending on Phoenix's final trajectory.

High-speed slew to track Phoenix descent

Operations and flight dynamics specialists at ESOC have also designed and tested an 'EDL pointing mode' for Mars Express, which allows the spacecraft's MELACOM (Mars Express Lander Communications system) to point towards Phoenix during EDL. The instrument was originally intended for communications with the Beagle lander.

Mars Express will perform a high-speed slew as MELACOM tracks Phoenix, rotating about one axis at a speed some two to three times faster than normal; this action has already been tested and confirmed. MELACOM will receive data from Phoenix that will enable NASA to confirm the lander's speed and acceleration through the Mars atmosphere.

At NASA's request, ESA's Mars Express team at ESOC has also designed and implemented a 'lander pointing mode'. This will enable Mars Express to look down and transmit telecommands to Phoenix and receive data from it on the surface. It will provide a critical back-up to NASA and potentially boost science return.

"Last year, we practised relaying commands from NASA to Mars Express and then down to the surface, using NASA's Mars Rovers as stand-in for Phoenix. It worked fine," said Michel Denis, Mars Express Spacecraft Operations Manager at ESOC.

Mars Express will help characterise the descent trajectory

In addition to the critical communications back-up, the PFS (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer) will be used to survey the martian atmosphere before and after descent to better characterise how the descent trajectory was affected by the atmosphere.

The Ultraviolet and Infrared Atmospheric Spectrometer (SPICAM) will also be used for sounding measurements of the atmosphere, prior to the event, to study the density of carbon dioxide at altitudes of 50 to 150 km.

Mars Express mission scientists are also studying whether instruments such as the HRSC (High Resolution Stereo Camera) and SPICAM can also detect the entry emission of Phoenix, providing additional analysis of the martian atmosphere when it is heated by the lander's passage.NASA and ESA ground stations will also cooperate to perform highly sophisticated 'delta-DOR' (delta - Differential One-way Range) interferometry measurements to determine the trajectory of Phoenix with high precision.

This is the first time that ESA has been requested to operationally support NASA with the delta-DOR equipment installed at the Agency's two deep-space tracking stations, in Cebreros, Spain, and New Norcia, Australia.

"In many ways, we are returning a favour," said Peter Schmitz, ESA's Mars Express Deputy Spacecraft Operations Manager. "NASA helped us out similarly with Mars Express, prior to its arrival at the Red Planet, when we still didn't have the delta-DOR system in service."

For more information:

Michel Denis, ESA Mars Express Spacecraft Operations Manager
Michel.Denis @ esa.int

http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Mars_Express/SEMWMUJ26DF_0.html