ESA Portal - Europe's eye on Mars: first spectacular results from Mars Express: "Europe's eye on Mars: first spectacular results from Mars Express

Europe's first close-up image of Mars

ESA PR 05-2004. ESA's Mars Express, successfully inserted into orbit around Mars on 25 December 2003, is about to reach its final operating orbit above the poles of the Red Planet. The scientific investigation has just started and the first results already look very promising, as this first close-up image shows.

Although the seven scientific instruments on board Mars Express are still undergoing a thorough calibration phase, they have already started collecting amazing results. The first high-resolution images and spectra of Mars have already been acquired. "