Mars Express Images of Olympus Mons

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Mars Express Images of Olympus Mons

Posted by michael on Friday February 13, 2004 @09:41AM from the skycam dept.

tr0llb4rt0 writes "The New Scientist reports on high resolution images of Olympus Mons taken by the ESA's Mars Express probe. Earlier pictures had suffered due to problems syncronizing the images from the high resolution stereo camera but these latest images are of excellent quality and scientists expect the quality of future images to improve further. High resolution images are available at the ESA's Mars Express Multimedia Gallery."

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Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · 2004-02-13 09:44 · Score: 3, Interesting

That'd be a great place to set up a base, wouldnt it?
1. Re:Lava Tubes!! by torpor · 2004-02-13 09:47 · Score: 0
  
  Hell yeah, my thoughts exactly!!!
  
  We will go to Mars. We will inhabit Olympus Mons...
  
  Sounds like a song, don't it? ;)
  
  --
  ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
2. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · 2004-02-13 09:49 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  and the launch site to go back home could be set up at the top... nearly 3 times as high as the Everest summit... less gravity to escape, less fuel to burn.
3. Re:Lava Tubes!! by Some+guy+named+Chris · 2004-02-13 09:52 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but at that height, there'd be no atmosphere.
4. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · 2004-02-13 09:55 · Score: 1
  
  as opposed to a carbon dioxide atmosphere below?
  
  also, less atmosphere = less friction for the return vehicle.
5. Re:Lava Tubes!! by Zathrus · 2004-02-13 10:04 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  also, less atmosphere = less friction for the return vehicle
  
  Which means you have to burn a lot more fuel in order to slow down and stop, since you can't use aerobraking or parachutes.
  
  Being out of the atmosphere means you also have absolutely no protection against micrometeorites. On the flipside, you don't have to deal with dust or dust storms.
6. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · 2004-02-13 10:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  err slow down and stop? aerobraking? parachute?
  
  for the RETURN TO EARTH VEHICLE????
  
  plenty of atmosphere on Earth, last time I checked...
7. Re:Lava Tubes!! by n.wegner · 2004-02-13 10:43 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  >Which means you have to burn a lot more fuel in order to slow down and stop, since you can't use aerobraking or parachutes.
  
  How much less is the martian gravity? Can you land near the base of the mountain, get the astronauts to bring pieces of the return vehicle up to the top, and then launch from there? It's a lot easier hauling your ass up a hill than hauling your ass up thin air.
  
  >Being out of the atmosphere means you also have absolutely no protection against micrometeorites.
  
  Your return vehicle has to deal with that on the trip back, anyways.
8. Re:Lava Tubes!! by BrookHarty · 2004-02-13 11:07 · Score: 1
  
  That'd be a great place to set up a base, wouldnt it?
  
  I'm just wondering how much the insurance will be. Who wants lava spouting all over the place, sink holes because of caverns. Just as bad as people building in flood zones. (-;
9. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · 2004-02-13 11:22 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  it's a dead volcano
  
  and IIRC Mars is not geologically active...
10. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WayneConrad · 2004-02-13 11:50 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  [Olympus Mons has] nearly 3 times as high as the Everest summit... less gravity to escape, less fuel to burn.
  The gravity at Olympus Mons is higher than average. Check out this gravity map of Mars. All of the black spots (the spots with the highest gravity) are volcanoes; the leftmost black spot on the left hemisphere is Olympus Mons.
  Gravity decreases as you get farther away from the surface, but when you're at the surface, it is the mass of the stuff under your feet that matters.
11. Re:Lava Tubes!! by utahjazz · 2004-02-13 13:06 · Score: 1
  
  Launch sideways.
12. Re:Lava Tubes!! by Tango42 · 2004-02-14 01:26 · Score: 1
  
  If you could get enough speed (I would have to look up the laws to find out what speed), you would end up in an extremely low, and therefore unstable orbit, which would quickly degrade due to atmospheric friction (even at that altitude there would be enough), and you would crash. Not the most effective method of returning to Earth... (of course if you went even faster, you would reach escape velocity, but it would be much easier to go straight up, because you wouldn't need to keep the engines running so long)
From an artist's view.. by NanoGator · 2004-02-13 10:07 · Score: 2, Insightful

These pics are cool. It's an interesting mix of alien and familiar. Wish I had something more insightful to say, but I'm a little too startled for that.

--
"Derp de derp."
1. Re:From an artist's view.. by Leffe · 2004-02-13 10:13 · Score: 0
  
  Great image quality! Mars Express is successful. All other Mars images I've seen pale in comparision.
  
  Now, I just hope that they will move the probe to the secret american base where they keep aliens.
  
  Moderation Guideline: +2 Funny
2. Re:From an artist's view.. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-13 10:18 · Score: 0
  
  ...familiar... Uh, where did you say you were from?
3. Re:From an artist's view.. by NanoGator · 2004-02-13 10:23 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I take it you've never been to Utah? And no, that's not a joke, the rock formations out there are breath-taking. Parts of Galaxy Quest were filmed there for that reason.
  
  --
  "Derp de derp."
4. Re:From an artist's view.. by Tablizer · 2004-02-14 07:23 · Score: 1
  
  Sign seen on Nevada road: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tommarrow you will be in Utah."
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
Question by El · 2004-02-13 10:14 · Score: 2, Interesting

Are there any features on Mars that they are saying "might be caused by flowing water" that are not adequately explained by volcanic activity?

--
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
1. Re:Question by linoleo · 2004-02-13 11:10 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Yes, a great many. We are certain (well, as certain as those things ever are) that "cold" (i.e., non-lava) flows shaped those features on Mars. AFAIK the only alternative under consideration to liquid water being responsible for those flows is mixed gaseous/liquid CO2.
  
  --
  Be faithful to your obsessions. Identify them and be faithful to them, let them guide you like a sleepwalker. JG Ballard
2. Re:Question by snake_dad · 2004-02-13 11:48 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  If you have some time to kill read these three articles. A very nice write-up of a lot of Mars science and theories.
  
  --
  karma capped .sig seeking available Slashdot poster for long-term relationship.
3. Re:Question by Lady+Jazzica · 2004-02-13 13:58 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The link to the third article should point here.
4. Re:Question by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-13 20:37 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  There's quite a lot of information that proves water on mars, and some that could go either way to the existence of life in those wet areas.
  
  Perhaps the best site on the topic at the moment is http://www.marslife.com/
  
  Truly eye opening
5. Re:Question by snake_dad · 2004-02-14 00:07 · Score: 1
  
  Oops.. thanks :)
  
  --
  karma capped .sig seeking available Slashdot poster for long-term relationship.
Be prepared! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-13 10:16 · Score: 0

But scientists are not complaining. "At the moment, we're drowning in data," says Muller. "I've filled several hundred gigabytes already." You'd think that years spent downloading porn from the internet would have prepared them for this!
Maybe we've got 'em demoralised! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-13 10:35 · Score: 0

>Mars Express Images on Olympus Mons

They must know we're coming. I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Image quality by rk · 2004-02-13 11:21 · Score: 3, Interesting

The top picture, while very cool and very accurate, is not actually a picture taken directly by the orbiter. Since they take stereo pictures, it is a straightforward task to recompute a new picture from a different angle.

I've seen martian pictures done like this before, but always it was composites with different instruments, like MOC (Mars Orbital Camera) or THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging Spectrometer) to provide the visual component and MOLA (Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter) giving the third dimension data.

Still, it's impressive as hell, and from a science standpoint will have geometric effect on the knowledge we've gained from the MGS and Odyssey orbiters. I hope Express has many years of good observations, and I look forward to ESA and NASA continuing the exploration of Mars. It's definitely a step in the right direction.
Martian Mons? by Rick+the+Red · 2004-02-13 12:08 · Score: 3, Funny

I prefer the Venusian Mons, myself.
(hint: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus)

--
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
1. Re:Martian Mons? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-14 19:41 · Score: 0
  
  Women are from Venus
  Which would explain some women's hot temper!
2. Re:Martian Mons? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-15 02:01 · Score: 0
  
  too bad Venus doesn't have moons
Wow! Get the hi-res perspective of Olympus Mons by dtjohnson · 2004-02-13 12:48 · Score: 1, Redundant

The little image is good but the hi-res image will take your breath away. I wonder when the last eruption was...
The scale of this is breathtaking. by jotaeleemeese · 2004-02-13 22:32 · Score: 1

Think: the height of the walls around the caldera is 3Km.

A football stadium would be barely visible there.

--
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
In other news by A55M0NKEY · 2004-02-14 12:10 · Score: 1

Hubble redirected toward earth to snap pictures of 'Mons Pubis'

--
Eat at Joe's.