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Earth and Moon Photographed by Mars Express
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 11:45 am ET
17 July 2003
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asap The European Mars Express took time out from its journey to Mars to turn around and snap a picture of Earth and the Moon. The picture is not only pleasing to the eye but thrilling for project scientists, as it represents the first observational data to be sent home by the probe. Along with other data recently collected and returned, it shows the spacecraft's working as expected. "It is very good news for the mission," said Project Scientist Agustin Chicarro of the European Space Agency (ESA). The photograph was made on July 3 and released today. Excepting the vast black background, the image is dominated by the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean -- the largest ocean on the planet. Clouds near the equator and in middle to northern latitudes show up as white and light gray. The Moon is but a sliver of light composed of a few pixels. Mars Express obtained the view from 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) away. It is the first picture of planetary objects taken by the probe's High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), which was not designed for such long-range photography. Officials said that though the resolution is low, owing to the great distance, the picture gives a good indication of what to expect from Mars Express in its orbit around Mars. 
ESA/DLR/Freie Universitt Berlin
The craft will be between 155 and 186 miles (250-300 kilometers) above Mars. Officials expect "very high-resolution images, in brilliant color and impressive 3-D of most of the Martian surface," said Principal Investigator for the camera, Gerhard Neukum of the Freie Universität of Berlin. Another instrument designed to map minerals and water on Mars was tested. Engineers pointed the OMEGA spectrometer at Earth to see if it could accurately detect the stuff our planet is known to be made of. OMEGA "found" molecular oxygen, water and carbon dioxide, ozone and methane, among other molecules. "The sensitivity demonstrated by OMEGA on these Earth spectra should reveal really minute amounts of water in both Martian surface materials and atmosphere," says the Principal Investigator of OMEGA, Jean Pierre Bibring, from the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France. Mars Express launched June 2 is due to arrive at the red planet in December. It also carries a surface probe, the Beagle 2 lander.
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