Mars Webcam is Back!

By Nancy Atkinson - March 26, 2009 at 8:52 AM UTC | Planetary Science
mars-vmc.jpg

[/caption] The Mars Webcam is back in action after taking a three month hiatus surrounding Mars solar conjunction. If you don't remember, or if haven't heard about this "eye on Mars" before,

here is a little background

the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) is part of the Mars Express spacecraft, ESA's Mars orbiter. Its original purpose was to provide simple, low-tech images of Beagle lander separation. After the Beagle departed from the orbiter in Dec. 2003 (and subsequently wasn't heard from again) the VMC was switched off. But in August of 2008 mission planners had the idea of trying to turn the camera back on, and using it as a "webcam," which ran until December and solar conjunction. The VMC team also has a new blog and they are also looking for the public's help in processing and cleaning up their images.

The Mars Webcam is not a scientific instrument, but it does provide fantastic views of Mars - including crescent views of the planet not obtainable from Earth.

According to the VMC blog, the scientific team is looking for the public's help to interpret and rework images, as well as perform a little photo artistry (i.e. Photoshopping) on the images taken by this camera. "We cordially invite you to download any of our images sets and send us your results. We'll post the best in our public gallery."

Find more info on how to work with the VMC team here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com