Space agency says Mars is not “red planet” and has color palette; understand

The European Space Agency (ESA) is celebrating 20 years since the launch of its Mars Express probe, whose objective is to study the atmosphere and climate of the so-called Red Planet, unveiling its structure, mineralogy, geology and looking for evidence, now confirmed, of water in its surface.

In the two decades of operation of the observation vehicle, capable of photographing the planet at an altitude of 300 km and generating images of up to 50 km in width, the agency obtained achievements above expectations for the first European study satellite on Mars.

There were 1.1 billion km traveled in more than 24,000 orbits of the planet, more than 1,800 scientific articles published using data provided by the mission and a longer-than-expected lifespan, since, initially, the probe would only operate for 687 days.

And to crown the work done, ESA presented a simulated image with 90 photographic captures, with rich contrasts and details, showing that the Red Planet is, in fact, a mosaic full of colors.

ESA explains that the view is simulated from a vantage point 2,500 km above the surface, featuring colossal canyon systems in red, green and blue colors, with a spatial resolution of 2 km per pixel.

cutting-edge equipment

For the mission, whose launch took place on June 2, 2003, the equipment received eight items with the most advanced technologies at the time: high resolution stereo camera (HRSC); visible and infrared mineralogical mapping spectrometer (OMEGA); subsurface sound radar altimeter (MARSIS); planetary Fourier spectrometer (PFS); ultraviolet and infrared atmospheric spectrometer (SPICAM); energetic neutral atom analyzer (ASPERA); visual monitoring camera (VMC) and experimental orbital radio (MaRS).

Such instruments made it possible for ESA to accurately discover the colors of the planet’s surface, a mission considered difficult due to the dust present in the Martian atmosphere. Because of this, the team’s expertise with the high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC), using colors derived from high-altitude images, allowed the preservation of color variations, forming what the space agency regards as never-before-seen images .

The red tones are caused by high concentrations of oxidized iron. The greyish, darker regions are formed by basaltic sand of volcanic origin, while the lighter spots, the beige tones, reinforce the presence of minerals such as clay and sulfate.

The great “scar” in the central area of ​​the planet, which circulates between the colors sky blue, petroleum and green, is the so-called Valles Marineris — a system of canyons that extend for more than 4,000 km.

The rig, which has already achieved unprecedented feats, should remain in operation until the year 2026.

mars is right there

In 2018, Mars was just 57.58 million km from Earth, due to a phenomenon that occurs every 15 years, when our planet is positioned exactly between Mars and the Sun, making this the moment of closest approach. On average, the distance between the planets is about 225 million kilometers — the values ​​are approximate and may vary in each astronomical event.

It is worth remembering that the next alignment between Earth, Mars and the Sun should occur in ten years, in 2033.