ESA Mars Express - Are they hiding Pictures?

As you all know the European Space Agency successfully deployed Mars Express into orbit around Mars. Mars Express has been intriguing us with beautiful and strange images from the "Red Planet". However the last image and information released on Mars Express was on January 23rd. What has happened since then? Where is all the data that being collected? People complain about NASA not sharing everything (me included) but ESA is worse, their Mars Express Web Page offers nothing new.
www.esa.int...




[Edited on 2-8-2004 by worldwatcher]

Maybe they are calibrating their colors

asimov.esrin.esa.int:8766...

Sorry the link is too big but here is the pictures ID and location

Valles Marineris perspective view, HRSC image 14 January

Its the first one on page 2 of the Mars Express Images

The pyramid picture from the ESA Mars Express is legit


[Edited on 10-2-2004 by robertfenix]

www.esa.int...

This picture and the side 3D shot with the pyramid are of the same place on the surface. match the edge of the large crater on the lower left and the horseshoe type crater above and to the right.

Now look at the ESA 3D picture that shows the pyramid. The features are some what skewed and in the over head shot the "underground" entrance is no where to be found, neither is the straight lines from the pyramid of the square depression.

So which photo is right ? They are both from the ESA.

www.esa.int...

Why are they blurring out the dark spots on the sides of the big "craters" ?

robert what's the date on your latest ESA image??

if I am correct, they made this discovery and are currently investigating it or perhaps something even more interesting.

I still cannot find anything newer than January 23rd, 2004.

Maybe they are busying "photochopping" images

new picture finally released today on Mars Express site.

perhaps someone has been listening to my crazy rants.. I am just happy to see new info

www.esa.int...

They say the the Olympus Mons wheir taken Jan 21

yep I realize that, wonder what took them sooo damn long to release them??

I won't complain too much, as long as they continue to release pictures in some sort of timely manner.

Cool pics. Does anyone know where I can buy a pair of 3-D glasses?

This is what they state at there FAQ's:

Will Mars Express and Beagle 2 return images of Mars? Will they be available in real-time? Who will they be forwarded to and who will exploit them?

Mars Express and Beagle 2 will certainly produce high-quality images. The images, like all data, will first go to the instruments� scientific teams for the necessary processing. After that, the images will be made available to the public.

But also:

What does Mars Express add to the flotilla of other international missions to Mars? Is ESA in competition with NASA?

Mars Express is complementary to all other mission to Mars. We have established a deep collaboration with the Japanese Naomi mission. We also help NASA with the transmission of data and NASA helps us. ESA is not competing with NASA.


I send a e-mail to ESA with some question pertaining to the release and choice of pictures given to the public.
If/When they replay I will put it through to this thread.

I will just place these FAQ's also here from ESA because of relatedness...

Is NASA involved in Mars Express?

NASA scientists are deeply involved in one of Mars Express�s instruments, the radar MARSIS.



Will the space agencies share the data? Mars Express and Nozomi will, but what about NASA�s rovers?

There is no an agreed exchange of data, but several European experiments are on board the rovers. The science teams will probably exchange data.

Originally posted by Condorcet
Cool pics. Does anyone know where I can buy a pair of 3-D glasses?

You should be able to make them with stuff from hobby shops IE Michaels etc, but here are some links

www.the3dmarket.com...

Here's how to make them

krypton.mankato.msus.edu...

thanks stefan, for posting the FAQ's, I read them on the site, but didn't think to post them here. glad you did.

I too had emailed ESA trying to find out how they select pictures that they show on their website, but I still haven't gotten a reply...So it would be interesting to see if and what they tell you when they reply.

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but it's a stunning picture, so I'm posting the link anyway.

HR Photo from Mars Express

reply to post by 123143


hey thanks, nice picture.

btw...I never ever did get a reply from ESA... I kind of figured they wouldn't be answering me after the first two months went by.

They added some pictures just today, taken in 2005. I donno why they take so long, stunning pictures though:

www.esa.int...

Originally posted by robertfenix
www.esa.int...

Why are they blurring out the dark spots on the sides of the big "craters" ?

Why do you assume they are wilfully blurring it out? That's obviously a 3d rendering of the terrain based on the mission data - unless the photographs that make up the "texture" of the 3d model were taken from directly overhead, there should be missing data or reduced resolution on some parts of the texture that were "facing away" from the camera slightly when the photograph was taken. The fact that they always appear in the inside edge of a crater confirms this: the outer rim of the crater was probably partially obscuring the view of the inside wall. This is why you should always ALWAYS refer to the original photography, not the processed images.

[edit on 16-7-2008 by ngchunter]

The pictures sure are pretty. I've always wondered why they were so stingy with them, though. I mean, what kind of value do they have, really? I guess you can license them as screensavers or artwork of some kind, but there are too many great images of Mars for them to really be worth anything, as far as I'm concerned.

Research? What kind of detailed study of the images could they be doing that would require them to be kept away from the public?

It's not like topo maps you're going to sell to hikers anytime soon.