[meteorite-list] Mars Express Sees Its First Water - Scientific Results

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:08 2004
Message-ID: <200401231627.IAA25117_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEM8ZB474OD_0.html

N° 06-2004 - Paris, 23 January 2004

Mars Express sees its first water - scientific results
European Space Agency

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 on 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 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 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 metre 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."

For further information please contact:
ESA Media Relations Office
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690
 
Received on Fri 23 Jan 2004 11:27:58 AM PST