The European Mars Express spacecraft has been orbiting the red planet for more than a decade, mapping the barren surface in astounding detail. Now, after 12,500 Martian orbits, the mission has almost entirely mapped the planet, creating a detailed topographical model. To celebrate, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has released an epic video, showing us Mars from the spacecraft’s perspective. As an added bonus, the mesmerizing soundtrack was created by DLR’s Stephan Elgner, a member of the mission’s planetary cartography team.
Mars Express was launched in June 2003 on a two year -- or one Martian year -- primary mission. After surpassing this by eight years, the Mars satellite is expected to continue relaying data back to Earth until at least the end of 2014. This is something definitely worth celebrating.
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