The study of surface characteristics (or surface properties and processes) is a broad category of Mars science that examines the nature of the materials making up the Martian surface. The study evolved from telescopic and remote-sensing techniques developed by astronomers to study planetary surfaces...
Mars Express is a space exploration mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) exploring the planet Mars and its moons since 2003, and the first planetary mission attempted by ESA.
Mars Express consisted of two parts, the Mars Express Orbiter and Beagle 2, a lander designed to perform exobiology and...
The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding its geology and habitability potential. Engineering interplanetary journeys is...
Mars Express Images Reveal Mars' Pockmarked Surface By Matthew Williams - March 06, 2026 12:02 AM UTC | Planetary Science The ESA's Mars Express probe has been surveying Mars from orbit for more than twenty years. The way it has mapped the surface using its High Resolution Stereo Camera has drastically changed the way we see the Red Planet. In a recent article, the ESA shared a series of HRSC images highlighting the heavily cratered region known as Arabia Terra. The study of Martian craters offers insight into Mars' geology, meteorology, and its long and turbulent history. The images were generated from the camera's digital terrain model and the nadir and colour channels. The image at the top shows the Arabia Terra region, a large plain in the Southern Highlands, heavily pockmarked with craters formed by impactors that struck the planet over time. The features are labelled (if you click on the image) and can be magnified. The volume of craters results from Arabia Terra being one of Mars' oldest geological formations, with estimates ranging from 3.7 to 4.1 billion years old. It was during this time that geologically activity ceased in Mars' interior, causing it to lose its planetary magnetosphere and leading to its atmosphere being slowly stripped away by solar wind. *A bird’s-eye view of a region inside Trouvelot Crater, showing the dark, volcanic deposits covering the crater floor and a light-toned mound seen sitting within these deposits. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin* Similar to how the Moon's airless environment has preserved its craters, Mars' thin atmosphere has kept these craters well-preserved. Some of the craters in the image are filled with dark material, while others are filled with lighter sands and rippling dunes. This suggests that some of this sand was deposited by Martian dust storms, while other material could have been ejected by the impacts themselves. Others still show signs of collapsing crater walls and worn-down rims, also indicative of wind-drive...
