Mars Express

Article By:

Chicarro, Agustin F. Research and Space Science Department, European Space Research and Technology Centre, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

Last reviewed:2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB090141

Mars Express has completely revamped our understanding of the planet's geological evolution. A great wealth of data has been gathered, allowing us to build a comprehensive and multidisciplinary view of Mars, including the surface geology and mineralogy; the subsurface structure; the state of the interior; the climate's evolution; the atmospheric dynamics, composition, and escape; the aeronomy; and the ionospheric structure. Major advances have been made, such as discovering water ice below the surface, mapping of the various types of ice in the polar regions, tracing the history of water abundance on the surface of Mars in view of the minerals formed at different epochs, discovering the presence of methane in the atmosphere, observing midlatitude auroras above crustal magnetic fields, and establishing much younger time scales for volcanism and glacial processes. Indeed, the presence of methane, independently confirmed by ground measurements, suggests that either volcanism or biological processes are currently active on Mars.

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