Don’t Miss the First-Ever Live Stream from Mars
In one of history’s firsts, space enthusiasts worldwide are invited to a captivating show, the first Mars live stream. The public can stay tuned and watch it on June 2, Friday.
Marking the 20th anniversary of the Mars Express project by the European Space Agency (ESA), enthusiasts can see the Red Planet via the live stream. The project’s main purpose has been to gather more knowledge of the neighboring planet.
The space treat that will stream directly to your screens will offer stunning imagery of the Red Planet. The visuals will be transferred to Earth through the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard the Mars Express.
A report from IFLScience said that this space traveler has two decades of space exploration experience. It has gathered raw and unedited images of Mars’ beauty.
On Friday, join us for one hour of the first-ever #MarsLIVE stream🔴👉https://t.co/0pnQvr6teY
To celebrate the 20th birthday of #MarsExpress, this will be the closest you can get to a live view from the Red Planet. Find out more📄👉 https://t.co/jYz6k9ym6u pic.twitter.com/Wgs9a41g8c
— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) May 31, 2023
The Spacecraft Operations Manager at the ESA control center in Darmstadt, James Godfrey, explained, “This is an old camera, originally planned for engineering purposes, at a distance of almost three million kilometers [1,864,114 miles] from Earth – this hasn’t been tried before, and to be honest, we’re not 100 percent certain it’ll work.”
He added, “But I’m pretty optimistic. Normally, we see images from Mars and know that they were taken days before. I’m excited to see Mars as it is now – as close to a Martian ‘now’ as we can possibly get!”
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Minor Holdups
Although the event would be live, slight delays in the transmission are inevitable. This is because it will take time for light to travel the huge distance between Earth and Mars, which is approximately 225 million kilometers or 140 million miles.
How to watch the first ESA Mars Express "live" stream https://t.co/JIFu8yOTKU pic.twitter.com/JZZ1zyz2Ba
— The Verge (@verge) May 31, 2023
The estimated delay of visuals from Mars Express to your screens would be an average of 18 minutes. It will take 17 minutes for light to travel from the Red Planet to here and an additional minute for the data to go through different ground servers.
Aside from the stunning images, this Mars livestream and visuals also have monumental scientific values. The VMC’s collection of photos that its team has stored and downlinked to Earth has helped in groundbreaking discoveries.
A team member of the VMC at ESA, Jorge Hernández Bernal, confirmed, “From these images, we discovered a great deal, including the evolution of a rare elongated cloud formation hovering above one of Mars’ most famous volcanoes – the 20 km [12.4-mile]-high Arsia Mons.”
Red Planet’s Monumental Day
As we come near the much-awaited Mars live stream, we can’t help but wonder at its potential. Aside from marking it as an important milestone for the Mars Express, it further brings us closer to the potential of space exploration via our screens.
Despite the hurdles the stream connection might face, this promising event is a historic leap toward our connection with the Red Planet.
Join this historic event and tune in to the Mars live stream. You can see a space spectacle that surpasses the limits between Earth and the Red Planet.
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