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The planetary adventure continues - Mars Express and Venus Express operations extended   Venus Express is studying largely unknown phenomena in the Venusian atmosphere like never before. Its suite of instruments is also digging into the interaction between the solar wind and the planetary environment. In addition, the mission is gathering glimpses of the planet's surface, which is strictly coupled with its dense atmosphere.  An artist's impression of Mars Express. The spacecraft left Earth for Mars on 2 June 2003. It reached its destination after a six-month journey, and has been investigating the planet since early 2004. Mars Express – the present and the future  In this HRSC 3D perspective view of the Marwth Vallis area (shades of grey), OMEGA has mapped the water-rich minerals (blue). No hydrated minerals or sediments have been detected, either in the channel or in its opening. However, the outflow was so violent as to erode and expose ancient hydrated clay-rich minerals, tracing an early era when water was present.  The HRSC obtained this image of Aureum Chaos during orbit 456 with a resolution of approximately 25 metres per pixel. The scene shows an area located at about 3º South and 335º East, looking roughly north to north-east.
In right-hand corner, a roughly five kilometre-wide region of bright material is observed. This material appears to form distinct layers that may have been created by the evaporation of fluids or by hydrothermal activity. Venus Express – looking further  This movie, built with infrared images taken by the Ultraviolet/Visible/Near-Infrared spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board ESA’s Venus Express, provides a close-up view of the double-eyed vortex at Venus south pole. The images (ranging from 4.5 to 5.1 microns) were taken on 29 May 2006, from a distance of about 64 000 kilometres from the planet.
Thanks to the use of different wavelengths, VIRTIS probed the atmosphere at different depths, ranging from 70 kilometres to about 60 kilometres altitude. It is interesting to see how the images contrast and the details increase while approaching the 60 kilometres altitude.  This visible/ultraviolet image of Venus (380 nanometres) was taken by the Ultraviolet/Visible/Near-Infrared spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft on 19 April 2006, during the first orbit (capture orbit) around the planet, from a distance of about 190 000 kilometres.
In the day side (blue part) it is possible to see interesting atmospheric stripe-like structures. Spotted for the first time by Mariner 10 in the 1970s, they may be due to the presence of dust and aerosols in the atmosphere, but their true nature is still unexplained. Release date: 27 February 2007 |