ESA title

The mission

Since beginning science operations in 2004, Mars Express has provided breathtaking views of Mars in three dimensions. It has provided the most complete map of the chemical composition of the atmosphere, studied Mars’s innermost moon Phobos in unprecedented detail, and traced the history of water across the globe, demonstrating that Mars once harboured environmental conditions that may have been suitable for life.

 

  • Launch date: 2 June 2003
  • Arrival at Mars: December 2003
  • Status: In operation
  • Targets: Mars' atmosphere, surface and subsurface; Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos
Mars Express
Overhead perspective of Flaugergues Crater
Science & Exploration

Explore Mars’s Flaugergues Crater

04/02/2026 2988 views 76 likes
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Mars Express sees sandblasted wind sculptures near Eumenides Dorsum
Science & Exploration

Sandblasting on Mars

07/01/2026 3764 views 64 likes
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Bird’s-eye view: the butterflies and dark layers of Idaeus Fossae
Science & Exploration

A martian butterfly flaps its wings

03/12/2025 9713 views 83 likes
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The patterns of Coloe Fossae: What a martian ice age left behind
Science & Exploration

What a martian ice age left behind

12/11/2025 4685 views 77 likes
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Mars Express sees a dust devil dancing across Mars
Science & Exploration

Dancing dust devils trace raging winds on Mars

08/10/2025 9787 views 60 likes
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ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter observes comet 3I/ATLAS – GIF
Science & Exploration

ESA’s ExoMars and Mars Express observe comet 3I/ATLAS

07/10/2025 625042 views 831 likes
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Mars Express views Acheron Fossae’s western fringes
Science & Exploration

When martian ground falls apart

06/08/2025 4132 views 69 likes
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Arcadia Planitia as seen by ESA’s Mars Express
Science & Exploration

Earth tones on Mars

26/06/2025 4559 views 47 likes
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Science & Exploration

Recipe for a ‘rocky road’ crater soaked in martian history

21/05/2025 3236 views 52 likes
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Mars Express
Enabling & Support

Mars Express updates software, potentially extending spacec…

16/05/2025 2706 views 30 likes
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Acheron Fossae as seen by ESA’s Mars Express
Science & Exploration

Martian rock on the move

09/04/2025 5333 views 75 likes
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Why is Mars red?
Science & Exploration

Have we been wrong about why Mars is red?

25/02/2025 22101 views 125 likes
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Frosty scene at the south pole of Mars
Science & Exploration

Dreaming of a white Christmas – on Mars

18/12/2024 4626 views 64 likes
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Cryptic terrain in Australe Scopuli on Mars
Science & Exploration

Cryptic Mars, a land shaped by ice

09/10/2024 6385 views 82 likes
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Caralis Chaos as seen by ESA’s Mars Express
Science & Exploration

Take a trip to Mars’s largest lake

07/08/2024 6228 views 85 likes
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A snaking scar on Mars
Science & Exploration

A snaking scar on Mars

03/07/2024 15730 views 81 likes
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Newfound frost atop Olympus Mons
Science & Exploration

Frosty volcanoes discovered in Mars’s tropics

10/06/2024 34423 views 57 likes
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Mars Inca City
Science & Exploration

Signs of spiders from Mars

24/04/2024 72747 views 118 likes
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Annotated image of Mars
Science & Exploration

Mars Express celebrates 25 000 orbits

27/03/2024 9563 views 106 likes
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Sand dunes meet stacked ice at Mars’s north pole
Science & Exploration

Sand dunes meet stacked ice at Mars’s north pole

28/02/2024 5779 views 62 likes
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Map of suspected ice at Mars’s equator
Science & Exploration

Buried water ice at Mars's equator?

18/01/2024 49041 views 98 likes
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Mars during the 2023 solar conjunction
Enabling & Support

Spacecraft fall silent as Mars disappears behind the Sun

17/11/2023 7348 views 126 likes
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 Green glow in the martian night
Science & Exploration

A green glow in the martian night

10/11/2023 11391 views 105 likes
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Science & Exploration

Landslides at the foot of Olympus Mons

23/08/2023 20817 views 244 likes
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The clays of Mawrth Vallis
Science & Exploration

The clays of Mawrth Vallis

19/07/2023 6053 views 134 likes
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Earth and Moon seen by Mars Express
Science & Exploration

Earth and Moon seen from Mars

12/07/2023 67639 views 321 likes
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Mars Express images combined to produce global Mars in colour
Science & Exploration

20 years of Mars Express: Mars as never seen before

02/06/2023 49137 views 389 likes
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The flanks of Ascraeus Mons
Science & Exploration

Chasms on the flanks of a martian volcano

09/05/2023 12138 views 172 likes
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Nectaris Fossae and Protva Valles
Science & Exploration

Deep fractures and water-carved valleys

31/01/2023 5918 views 137 likes
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Swirling craterscape at the south pole of Mars
Science & Exploration

Christmas craterscape

22/12/2022 7250 views 150 likes
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Mars dust storm in motion
Science & Exploration

Martian dust storms churn up Earth-like clouds

15/11/2022 18732 views 126 likes
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Mars Express HRSC image of Phobos, taken on 7 March 2010
Enabling & Support

A close encounter with a mysterious moon

28/10/2022 10151 views 200 likes
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Terra Sirenum, Mars
Science & Exploration

Craters and cracks on Mars

26/10/2022 5238 views 151 likes
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Science & Exploration

Mars and Jupiter moons meet

13/10/2022 22472 views 58 likes
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Science & Exploration

Chaotic crust contains clues to Mars’ watery past

31/08/2022 7469 views 131 likes
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Mars global map of hydrated minerals
Science & Exploration

New water map of Mars will prove invaluable for future expl…

22/08/2022 43985 views 144 likes
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Science & Exploration

Mars Express peers into Mars' 'Grand Canyon'

20/07/2022 30931 views 333 likes
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Mars Express
Enabling & Support

Software upgrade for 19-year-old martian water-spotter

21/06/2022 47376 views 227 likes
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Science & Exploration

Mars sleeps with one eye open

08/06/2022 10682 views 188 likes
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Science & Exploration

Tantalising tectonics

28/04/2022 9136 views 166 likes
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Utopia Planitia on Mars
Science & Exploration

Martian brain freeze

30/03/2022 12082 views 189 likes
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The Medusae Fossae formation
Science & Exploration

Caution! Martian wind at work

23/02/2022 6011 views 95 likes
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Perspective view of Jovis Tholus
Science & Exploration

Making a splash in a lava sea

26/01/2022 7385 views 243 likes
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'Fake' flybys help solve Phobos mystery
Science & Exploration

ESA’s Mars Express unravels mystery of martian moon using '…

02/12/2021 8381 views 99 likes
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Mars Express
Science & Exploration

Better understanding of Earth’s atmospheric chemistry from …

23/07/2021 5775 views 83 likes
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Spacecraft error data reveal cosmic ray behaviour - visualisation
Science & Exploration

Unique use of ESA spacecraft ‘housekeeping’ data reveals co…

28/06/2021 7569 views 93 likes
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Mars water data visualisation
Science & Exploration

Mars water loss shaped by seasons and storms

22/03/2021 11890 views 117 likes
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Return of the extremely elongated cloud on Mars
Science & Exploration

Mars Express unlocks the secrets of curious cloud

09/03/2021 21216 views 133 likes
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Science & Exploration

An interactive map to explore Jezero crater

18/02/2021 28678 views 105 likes
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Jezero Crater delta
Science & Exploration

Explore the Jezero neighbourhood

17/02/2021 18808 views 126 likes
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