This has been the first broadcast of the ESA on the Internet

2023-06-04 09:14:34

On June 2, all those who had their agenda marked at 6:00 p.m. with the ESA, have had the possibility of contemplate during an hour that the broadcast has lasted, a live close-up view of the red planet, Mars. It is the first time that an event of this type has been held. And we imagine that, given the success of the call, they can be repeated on more occasions in the future.

“You will have the opportunity to get as close as possible to Mars”said the intergovernmental organization for space exploration through its social networks when announcing the astronomical event.

The live images we have seen have been thanks to the Mars Express spacecraft, a probe that was first launched 20 years ago and whose objective was to collect crucial scientific data about the atmosphere, surface and subsoil of Mars, as well as look for signs of life past or present.

live marsMidjourney/Sarah Romero

After a journey of about six months, Mars Express successfully entered Mars orbit on December 25, 2003. This marked a major milestone for ESA, as it became the first European mission to reach and orbit another planet. ANDn its nearly two decades in service, this European space probe has detected evidence of giant underground aquifers; lost and found his surface landing partner named Beagle 2 and shared images of our neighboring red planet (among many other things).

Mars, live

Due to the great distance between Mars and Earth, the transmission has not been as ‘live’ as watching Eurovision, for example, since light traveling from Mars can take between 3 and 22 minutes to reach Earth, according to the orbital position of the two planets. Hence we have actually seen the images about 17 minutes late (and about a minute to get through the cables and servers on the ground).

The images that we have been able to contemplate and that are available in the transmission via Youtube, They come directly from the Mars Express Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC). The orbiter’s camera transmitted a new image every 50 seconds. This camera normally stores the images it takes and transmits them in a batch every two days, so this is the first time that ESA has attempted to pass them on as they are being made.

Before the transmission began, the experts spent several weeks developing tools that would allow live images to be transmitted from the probe’s camera for a full hour. “This is an ancient camera, originally planned for engineering purposes, at a distance of almost three million kilometers from Earth,” said James Godfrey, Manager of Spacecraft Operations at ESA’s Mission Control Center in Darmstadt. , Germany.

How could it be otherwise, the event was organized to commemorate these 20 years of the Mars Express. Right now, continues to help scientists answer fundamental questions about the geology, atmosphere, surface environment, history of water, and the potential for life on Mars.