In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Mars Express spacecraft, the European Space Agency (ESA) released a new image depicting the Earth and Moon from a unique perspective: Views of Mars, captured by the probe.
These images were captured during celebrations for this important milestone in the mission's history. Check it out below!
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Incredible image of Earth and Moon together
The view of Earth and its moon from the Mars Express spacecraft may not be the most impressive in visual terms, but it still manages to convey a melancholy feeling known as the “Pale Point Blue".
This expression was inspired by Carl Sagan, a renowned scientist and communicator, who was fascinated by a unique photo captured by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft. NASAin 1990.
As it continued its journey through space, Voyager 1 captured an image of Earth from a distance of 6 billion kilometers, as a tiny bright blue dot in the vast universe.
This vision inspired Sagan to deliver his famous talk, in which he reflected on the fact that Earthit was life's only known home and emphasized the importance of treating each other with respect and care, as well as preserving our planet.
According to Jorge Hernández Bernal, a member of the Mars Express team responsible for conceiving this image, the purpose of releasing the images was precisely to reflect what Carl Sagan said.
“On this special occasion of the 20th anniversary of Mars Express since launch, we wanted to bring back the Carl Sagan musings that remain relevant today, when climate change and the ecological crisis make these messages more valid than ever.” he said.
The series of photos was captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) aboard the Mars Express, which is normally used to observe the two moons and stars from Mars.
(Photo: ESA/Reproduction)
These images of Earth and Moon were taken on June 15, 21, 25, 27 and 2, 2023, covering more than half of the Moon's monthly orbit around Earth. The last photo in the series was taken in celebration of the anniversary of the launch of the Mars Express on June 2, 2003.
Shortly before an important commemorative event, images of Mars captured by the spacecraft's Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) were transmitted "live" to Earth.