Mars Science Research AT ESA

    The ESA Science community at ESAC and ESTEC works collectively on various international research projects related to planet Mars, taking advantage of the sinergies between Mars Express, ExoMars and other missions. Current activities cover a wide range of scientific topics from Martial geology (interior, subsurface and surface), Martian atmosphere (clouds, dust storms, trace gases, ionosphere, ...), interaction of the Martian magnetosphere with the Solar wind and finally both Martian moons (Phobos and Deimos).

    The main goal is to support the international Mars science community through research collaborations with various external institutions, in support of the current missions and preparations for future missions to Mars, led by ESA and/or other international agencies (NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, CNSA, UAE ...).
     

    Science Collaborations:

    Current international collaborations and research projects include:

     - Mars-Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter coordinated observations (BIRA, Latmos, IKI, ISSI, DLR, etc..) 

     - Mars Radio Science mutual occultation science and data processing (TU Deft, Imperial College, Univ. Trieste)

     - Mars Wind and Wave Mapping (IA Lisbon, VLT, IAA, DLR Berlin, ...)

     - Mars ionospheric and magnetospheric studies in comparison with other solar system bodies (Leicester Univ., ...)

     - Phobos landing site working group and moon lander mission studies (George Mason Univ., ...)

     - VMC Scientific Exploitation (EHU-UPV)

     - HRSC High Level Data processing (DLR, FU Berlin)

     - MARSIS High Level Data processing (Leicester Univ., INAF)

     - SPICAM High Level Data processing (LATMOS)

     - ASPERA High Level Data processing (IRF)

     - ...

    International Workshops and Conferences:

    - Planet Mars V, Les Houches, 24-29 April 2022

    - European General Assembly, Vienna, 23–27 May 2022

    - Mars Atmospheric Modeling and Observations, Paris, 1-17 June 2022

    - EuroPlanet Science Congress, Granada, 18-23 September 2022

    - ...

    ESA Mars science community:

    The ESA Mars science community is largely based on the Research Fellows at ESAC and ESTEC, in collaboration with Science Operations Teams and Project Scientists :

    Recent publications:

    The list of publication within the Martian group at ESA is kept updated for the past four years. Below is a summary of the last two years publications. The complete list can be found at this link Martian-publication-list or searching ADS Mars Research Group Publications.
     

    2023          "Mars Express 20 year anniversary" Special Issue on Space Science Reviews (in preparation)

    J. Hernandez-Bernal, A. Cardesín-Moinelo et al. "The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on Mars Express: a new science instrument from an old webcam orbiting Mars" submitted to IEEE TGRS

    R. Jaumann, D. Titov, J-P. Bibring, ...,  P. Martin, ..., C. Wilson, A. Cardesin-Moinelo et al. "ESA’s Mars Express Mission". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science, under review

    L. Riu; J. Carter; F. Poulet; A. Cardesín-Moinelo; P. Martin "Global surficial water content stored in hydrated silicates at Mars from OMEGA/MEx" Icarus Volume 398,, 115537, 10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115537 

    ...

    2022         

    Voelker, M., Ruiz, J., Parro, L. M., Hauber, E., Cardesín-Moinelo, A., & Martin, P., "From hot to cold? - Hydrothermal activities as a source for icy-debris flows on Dryas Mons, Terra Sirenum, Mars", Icarus, 372, 114698. 10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114698

    L.Riu, J. Carter, F. Poulet, “The M3 project: 3- Abundance distribution of hydrated silicates at Mars”, Icarus, 10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114809

    A. Sanchez-Lavega, A. Erkoreka, J. Hernandez-Bernal, T. del Rio-Gaztelurrutia, J. Garcia-Morales, I. Ordoñez-Etxeberria, A. Cardesin-Moinelo, D. Titov, S. Wood, D. Tirsch, E. Hauber, K.-D. Matz, "Cellular patterns and dry convection in textured dust storms at the edge of Mars North Polar Cap", Icarus, Volume 387, 2022,115183, 10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115183

    Barrett, A. M., Balme, M. R., Woods, M., Karachalios, S., Petrocelli, D., Joudrier, L., & Sefton-Nash, E., "NOAH-H, a deep-learning, terrain classification system for Mars: Results for the ExoMars Rover candidate landing sites", Icarus, 371, 114701.  10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114701

    Sánchez-Cano, B., Lester, M., Cartacci, M., Orosei, R., Witasse, O., Blelly, P.-L., & Kofman, W., "Ionosphere of Mars during the consecutive solar minima 23/24 and 24/25 as seen by MARSIS-Mars Express", Icarus, 393, 114616. 10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114616

    Lester, M., Sanchez-Cano, B., Potts, D., Lillis, R., Cartacci, M., Bernardini, F., Orosei, R., Perry, M., Putzig, N., Campbell, B., Blelly, P.-L., Milan, S., Opgenoorth, H., Witasse, O., Redrojo, E. M. M., & Russell, A., "The Impact of Energetic Particles on the Martian Ionosphere During a Full Solar Cycle of Radar Observations: Radar Blackouts", Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics), 127, e2021JA029535   10.1029/2021JA029535

    Bahia, R. S., "Morphological and hydrological analysis of volcanic flank valleys - Evidence for a volcanic origin", Planetary and Space Science, 223, 105592. 10.1016/j.pss.2022.105592 

    Bahia, R. S., Covey-Crump, S., Jones, M. A., & Mitchell, N., "Discordance analysis on a high-resolution valley network map of Mars: Assessing the effects of scale on the conformity of valley orientation and surface slope direction", Icarus, 383, 115041. 10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115041

    ...

    2021.        O. Ruesch, M. Hess, K. Wohlfarth, T. Heyer, C. Wöhler, T. Bontognali, C. Orgell, E. Sefton-Nash, J.-L. Josset, and J. L. Vago, “Synthetic topography from the decameter to the centimeter scale on Mars for scientific and rover operations of the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars mission”, Planetary and Space Science, 10.1016/j.pss.2021.105301

    Cardesín-Moinelo, A., Geiger, B., Lacombe, G., Ristic, B., Costa, M., Titov, D., Svedhem, H., Marín-Yaseli, J., Merritt, D., Martin, P., López-Valverde, M. A., Wolkenberg, P., Gondet, B., Mars Express Team, & ExoMars 2016 Science Ground Segment Team. "First year of coordinated science observations by Mars Express and ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter", Icarus, 353, 113707. 10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113707

    P. Fawdon, P. Grindrod, C. Orgel, E. Sefton-Nash, S. Adeli, M. Balme, G. Cremonese, J. Davis, A. Frigeri, E. Hauber, L. Le Deit, D. Loizeau, A. Nass, A. Parks-Bowen, C. Quantin-Nataf, N. Thomas, J. L. Vago, and M. Volat, “The geography of Oxia Planum”, Journal of Maps, 17:2,752–768, 10.1080/17445647.2021.1982035

    E. Sefton-Nash, G. Thébault, O. Witasse, D. Koschny, B. Sánchez-Cano, A. Cardesín-Moinelo. "Visibility analysis of Phobos to support a science and exploration platform". Earth, Planets and Space volume 73, Article number: 215

    C. E. Parfitt, A. McSweeney, L. De Bcker, C. Orgel, A. Ball, M. Khan, S. Vijendran, “Small Mars Mission Architecture Study”, Advances in Astronomy, Volume 2021, Article ID 5516892, https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5516892

    F. Westall, K. Hickman-Lewis, B. Cavalazzi, F. Foucher, L. Clodoré, and J. L. Vago, “On biosignatures for Mars”, Int. Journal of Astrobiology, 10.1017/S1473550421000264

    Hernández-Bernal, J., Sánchez-Lavega, A., del Río-Gaztelurrutia, T., Hueso, R., Ravanis, E., Cardesín-Moinelo, A., Wood, S., & Titov, D. "A Long Term Study of Mars Mesospheric Clouds Seen at Twilight Based on Mars Express VMC Images", Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e92188.

    Hernández-Bernal, J., Sánchez-Lavega, A., del Río-Gaztelurrutia, T., Ravanis, E., Cardesín-Moinelo, A., Connour, K., Tirsch, D., Ordóñez-Etxeberria, I., Gondet, B., Wood, S., Titov, D., Schneider, N. M., Hueso, R., Jaumann, R., & Hauber, E.. "An Extremely Elongated Cloud Over Arsia Mons Volcano on Mars: I. Life Cycle". Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets), 126, e06517.

    B. Sánchez-Cano, M. Lester, M. Cartacci, R. Orosei, O. Witasse, P.-L. Blelly, W. Kofman, “Ionosphere of Mars during the solar minima 23/24 and 24/25 as seen by MARSIS-Mars Express”, Icarus, 10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114616

    E. W. Knusten, O. Witasse, B. Sánchez-Cano, M. Lester, R. F. Wimmer-Schweingruber, M. Denis, J. Godfrey, A. Johnstone, “Galactic cosmic ray modulation at Mars and beyond measured with EDACs on Mars Express and Rosetta”, A&A, 10.1051/0004-6361/202140767

    K. Peter, M. Pätzold, G. J. Molina-Cuberos, F. González-Galindo, O. Witasse, S. Tellmann, B. Häusler, M. K. Bird, “The lower dayside ionosphere of Mars from 14 years of MaRS radio science observaitons”, Icarus, 10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114213

    F. Müller, O. Carraz, P. Visser, O. Witasse, “Cold atom gravimetry for planetary missions”, PSS, 10.1016/j.pss.2020.105110

    P. Kajdič, B. Sánchez-Cano, L. Neves-Ribeiro, O. Witasse, G. C. Bernal, D. Rojas-Castillo, H. Nilsson, A. Fedorov, “Interaction of space weather phenomena with Mars plasma environment during solar minimum 23/24”, JGP: Space Physics, 10.1029/2020JA028442

    ...

    2020.       J. L. Vago and F. Westall, “Similarities between terrestrial planets at the time life appeared on Earth:  Comment on ‘Mineral self-organisation on a lifeless planet’ by J. M. García-Ruiz et al.”, Physics of Life Reviews, 10.1016/j.plrev.2020.05.003

    Voelker, M., Hauber, E., Cardesín-Moinelo, A., & Martin, P. "Quantifying the latitudinal distribution of climate-related landforms on Mars' southern hemisphere". Icarus, 346, 113806.

    M. Veneranda, G. Lopez-Reyes, E. Pascual Sanchez, A. M. Krzesińska, J. A. Manrique-Martinez, A. Sanz-Arranz, C. Lantz, E. A. Lalla, A. Moral, J. Medina, F. Poulet, H. Dypvik, S. C. Werner, J. L. Vago, and F. Rull, “ExoMars Raman Laser Spectrometer:  A tool to semiquantify the serpentinization degree of olivine-rich rocks on Mars”, Astrobiology, 21(3), pp. 1–16, 10.1089/ast.2020.2265

    G. Lopez-Reyes, C. Pilorget, A. G. Moral, J. A. Manrique, A. Sanz, A. Berrocal, M. Veneranda, F. Rull, J. Medina, V. Hamm, J.-P. Bibring, J. A. Rodriguez, C. Perez Canora, E. Mateo-Martí, O. Pietro-Ballesteros, E. Lalla, and J. L. Vago, “Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) calibration target design to allow onboard combined science between RLS and MicrOmega instruments on the ExoMars rover”, Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, 51(9), pp. 1718–1730, 10.1002/jrs.6023

    F. Poulet, C. Gross, B. Horgan, J. L. Bishop, J. Carter, C. Orgel, “Mawrth Vallis, Mars: a fascinating place for in situ exploration”, Astrobiology, 20, 2,  https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2019.2074

    A. Martinez, R. Modolo, F. Leblanc, J. Y. Chafray, O. Witass, N. Romanelli, Y. Dong, T. Hara, J. Halekas, R. Lillis, J. McFadden, F. Eparvier, L. Leclercq, J. Luhmann, S. Curry, B. Jakosky, “Influence of the Solar Wind dynamic pressure on the ion precipitation: MAVEN observations and simulation results”, JGR: Space Physics, 10.1029/2020JA028183

    B. Sánchez-Cano, M. Lester, O. Witasse, D. D. Morgan, H. Opgenoorth, D. J. Andrews, P.-L. Blelly, S. W. H. Cowley, A. J. Kopf, F. Leblamc, J. R. Espley, A. Cardesín-Moinelo, “Mars’ ionospheric Interaction with Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring’s Coma at their closest approach as seen by Mars Express”, JGR: Space Physics, 10.1029/2019JA027344

    P. Conroy, G. Quinsac, N. Floury, O. Witasse, M. Cartacci, R. Orosei, W. Kofman, B. Sánchez-Cano, “A new method for determining the total electron content in Mars’ ionosphere based on Mars Express MARSIS data”, Planetary and Space Science, 10.1016/j.pss.2019.104812

    A. Burrell, B. Sánchez-Canon, O. Witasse, M. Lester, M. Cartacci, “Comparison of terrestrial and Martian TEC at dawn and dusk during solstices”, Earth, Planets and Space, 10.1186/s40623-020-01258-3

    Grau Galofre, A., Bahia, R. S., Jellinek, A. M., Whipple, K. X., & Gallo, R., "Did Martian valley networks substantially modify the landscape?", Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 547, 116482. 10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116482

    Bahia, R. S., & Jones, M., "The Subjectivity in Identification of Martian Channel Networks and Its Implication for Citizen Science Projects", Earth Moon and Planets, 123, 45. 10.1007/s11038-020-09530-y

    ...

     

    This page is maintained by Lucie Riu & Alejandro Cardesin (ESAC) and Eleni Bohacek & Elliot Sefton-Nash (ESTEC).

    Please contact us for any question regarding Mars research at both sites.