ESA’s Mars Express recently looped around Mars for the 25 000th time – and the orbiter has captured...
ESA's Mars Express recently looped around Mars for the 25 000th time - and the orbiter has captured yet another spectacular view of the Red Planet to mark the occasion.
The new high-altitude view was taken by Mars Express's High Resolution Stereo Camera.
Mars Express arrived at Mars in late 2003, and completed its 25 000th orbit on 19 October 2023.
Excitingly, Mars Express has also captured an unexpected visitor in Mars's largest moon, Phobos, which can be seen as a dark blob passing through to the lower left.
Phobos sits very close to Mars by Solar System standards, orbiting just 6000 km from Mars's surface.
The fractured, fissured canyons of Noctis Labyrinthus - viewed several times before by Mars Express, including in a visualised fly-through - can also be seen below the trio of volcanoes slicing across the frame.
These features have also been explored before by Mars Express.
Mars Express has revealed a great deal about Mars in the last two decades - and it's not stopping yet.
The spacecraft's HRSC, responsible for these new images marking 25 000 orbits, has shown us everything from wind-sculpted ridges and grooves to sinkholes on the flanks of colossal volcanoes to impact craters, tectonic faults, river channels and ancient lava pools.
The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera was developed and is operated by the German Aerospace Center.