Mars is in the crosshairs of astronauts and science is getting closer to revealing some aspects of its past and whether it has ever harbored or could harbor life on it. Even so, humans have not yet reached the planet in red, so the only images have come from the hand of technology.
During the afternoon of this Friday, the European Space Agency (ESA) is scheduled to connect live with Mars to broadcast some new live images. This connection will be made starting at 6:00 p.m., when the Mars Express orbiter will offer some perspectives of the planet in near real time. The truth is that it will take a few minutes due to the distance between the two planets.
The ESA has chosen the date falling right in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Mars Express and it will last one hour. “For the 20th anniversary of the Mars Express, join us today. The camera is not the best, but let’s see what happens on the Red Planet in this first live broadcast,” the agency itself has reported.
Mars is famous for its reddish color, caused by high levels of oxidized iron. However, large parts of the planet appear to be quite dark and blue-hued in the new mosaic. These are greyish-black basaltic sands of volcanic origin that form dark, far-reaching layers of sand all over Mars. They clump together as they move with the wind, creating towering sand dunes and dune fields within the impact craters.
