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Mars Express Images of Olympus Mons

Posted by michael on 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."

15 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That'd be a great place to set up a base, wouldnt it?

    1. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · · 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.

    2. Re:Lava Tubes!! by Zathrus · · 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.

    3. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · · 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...

    4. Re:Lava Tubes!! by n.wegner · · 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.

    5. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WormholeFiend · · Score: 2, Informative

      it's a dead volcano

      and IIRC Mars is not geologically active...

    6. Re:Lava Tubes!! by WayneConrad · · 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.

  2. From an artist's view.. by NanoGator · · 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 NanoGator · · 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."
  3. Question by El · · 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 · · 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 · · 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.

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    3. Re:Question by Lady+Jazzica · · Score: 2, Informative

      The link to the third article should point here.

  4. Image quality by rk · · 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.

  5. Martian Mons? by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 3, Funny
    I prefer the Venusian Mons, myself.

    (hint: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus)

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