Today for my last day of tweeting, I want to talk about highlights from #MarsExpress & later from @esamarswebcam! This thread will be some highlights from the mission as a whole 🙂🔴🛰️. This fantastic image is from HRSC 📸dlr.de/content/en/art… (📷: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)
(I talked about the background of the #MarsExpress mission in this thread a few days ago). Now, onto some science/mission/fun highlights! 🌌🔴🛰️
First, a fun one! (sorry for *spoilers*!! 🙈) Following on from me declaring my love for 'The Martian' yesterday, HRSC 📸 on #MarsExpress mapped out the route Mark Watney takes, and also reconstructed that journey in 3D! (📷: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)
What about water on Mars? In 2018 the radar 📡 instrument MARSIS on #MarsExpress detected evidence of a subglacial lake ⬇️ the south polar cap! 💧 The bright radar echo is interpreted as the interface between ice & a stable body of liquid (salty 🧂) water! esa.int/Science_Explor…
Elsewhere, the #MarsExpress mission has also contributed significantly to the (controversial!) story of methane on Mars 🤯. Methane was tentatively detected early in the MEX mission but remained controversial within the scientific community: esa.int/Science_Explor…
Last year, the PFS instrument on #MarsExpress published an independent confirmation of a methane spike on Mars seen by @MarsCuriosity, and suggested a source region east of Gale Crater 🛰️. Methane is interesting because it *could* be related to life 🦠👀
I particularly liked this piece by @kchangnyt in the New York Times which discusses a new spike found by @MarsCuriosity in June 2019, but also details the methane story which includes the measurements from #MarsExpress 🔴🛰️ nytimes.com/2019/06/22/sci…
Another #MarsExpress highlight is the estimation of the current rate of atmospheric escape using data from the ASPERA instrument! ⚛️ sci.esa.int/web/mars-expre… (Unfortunately Twitter botches the quality of videos, see it in better quality here: sci.esa.int/web/mars-expre…) (📽️: ESA)
Investigations into atmospheric loss are important for determing how Mars lost its early atmosphere 🔴. A 'warm & wet' early Mars is evidenced by features we see today such as those present in this HRSC image of Arda Valles (esa.int/Science_Explor…) (📷: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)
On the mission operations side of things, if you want to know more about how engineers like @marwood82 have kept #MarsExpress going for 16+ years (🤯) this is a great article by @richard_speed detailing that, including the switch to 'gyro-less' mode! 🔴🛰️ theregister.co.uk/2020/03/31/mar…
I'll end with some of my favourite photos from HRSC, bc everyone loves pictures of Mars right? 😉🔴 From upper left to bottom right: Perspective view of North Polar ice cap ❄️; area near north pole; Olympus Mons Caldera 🌋; Dark dunes of Moreux crater (all 📷: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)
More HRSC #MarsExpress photo highlights! 📸 From upper left to bottom right: Perspective view of Korolev crater; view of Deuteronilus Mensae showing evidence for glacial activity ❄️; Perspective view in Noctis Labyrinthus; Phobos (one of the Martian moons) (📷: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)
So, tldr; #MarsExpress mission highlights include the detection of a subglacial lake; detection of a methane spike; investigations into atmospheric escape on Mars; moving to a new 'gyroless' mode to extend the mission; and awesome pictures of Mars!! 😀🔴🛰️ esa.int/Science_Explor…
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.