Fully-integrated Proba-V microsatellite at QinetiQ Space Belgium in December 2012.
This computer-generated perspective view of part of the Promethei Terra highlands adjacent to Reull Vallis was created using data obtained from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express. Centred at around 41°S and 107°E, the image has a ground resolution of about 16 m per pixel. The image shows a rounded and smooth-topped mountain with a large impact crater in the foreground. The crater is largely filled in with sediments and shows step-like structures towards the right side, possibly indicative of sublimation or evaporation of water ice at different times and at different depths within the crater.
High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) nadir and colour channel data taken during revolution 10657 on 14 May 2012 by ESA’s Mars Express have been combined to form a natural-colour view of Reull Vallis. Centred at around 41°S and 107°E, the image has a ground resolution of about 16 m per pixel. The river-like channel is believed to have been formed by flowing water, which at some distant epoch cut through highland terrain and successively formed smooth plains. With a width of close to 7 km and a depth of around 300 m, the valley floor shows clear linear features believed to be ice-rich, and formed by debris and ice in a manner not dissimilar to the formation of glacial valleys on Earth.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, seen during Exploration Mission 1 in the late 2010s, will carry astronauts further into space than ever before using the European Service Module, developed on the heritage of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV).
ATV’s distinctive four-wing solar array is recognisable in this concept. The ATV-derived service module, sitting directly below Orion’s crew capsule, will contain the propulsion capability for orbital transfer, attitude control and high-altitude ascent aborts. It will also generate power using solar wings and provide thermal control, water, oxygen and nitrogen for the astronauts until just before their return to Earth, when it will separate from the crew module.
This image, acquired by Landsat-7 on 2 January 2013, shows the San Francisco Bay Area in the US state of California.
In the upper section of the image, we can see the rivers’ delta and the brown, sediment-filled water flowing down into the bay. The colourful patchwork in the centre of the image is a collection of wetland areas including salt ponds, salt marshes and mudflats. The city of San Francisco is on a peninsula in the centre left section of the image. Zooming in, we can see the Golden Gate Bridge which crosses the opening of the bay into the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Marin County. What appears to be a straight line running diagonally from the San Francisco Peninsula down through the forest is the San Andreas Fault. This is the border of two tectonic plates, and is responsible for the high earthquake risk in the area.
This image is featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
This colour-coded overhead view is based on an ESA Mars Express HRSC digital terrain model of the Reull Vallis region, from which the topography of the landscape can be derived. The colour coding shows the depth of the main channel, coloured in blue, which contrasts clearly against the Promethei Terra Highlands and their smooth, soft and rounded mountain tops. Centred at around 41°S and 107°E, the image has a ground resolution of about 16 m per pixel. The image was taken during revolution 10657 on 14 May 2012.
Week in Images
14-18 January 2013