A visualisation of Mars, created from spacecraft imagery. ESA''s first mission to the Red Planet is Mars Express, planned for launch in June 2003. It comprises an orbiter carrying seven scientific instruments to probe the planet''s atmosphere, structure and geology, including a search for evidence of hidden water. The main spacecraft will also release the UK''s small Beagle 2 lander to gather and test rock and soil samples on the surface. As well as its science objectives, Mars Express will also provide relay communication services between the Earth and landers deployed on the surface by other nations, thus forming a centrepiece of the international effort in Mars exploration. Mars Express is ESA''s first ''Flexible'' (F-class) mission. It is a pilot project for new methods of funding and managing ESA space missions, built more quickly and launched at a much lower cost than any previous mission of a similar nature.http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&single=y&start=699&size=b

This image shows the topography of two of the hemispheres of Mars. The image was seen on the cover of Science magazine in May of 1999. The most prominent features in this image are: 1) The massive Hellas impact basin (upper-left) in the Southern Hemisphere which is nearly six miles (nine kilometres) deep and 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometres) across. 2) The lower-right image shows the Tharsis province that contains Tharsis Montes (Ascraeus, Pavonis, and Arsia), and the Valles Marineris canyon system and related outflow channels.http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&single=y&start=700&size=b

Geologic map of a section of eastern Margaritifer Terra, Mars, at a scale of 1:500,0001. Map shows a variety of geomorphic units including one of the highest densities of preserved valley network drainage systems on the planet = http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/ceps/research/mars/geologic_mapping.cfm

This perspective view of the rim of Crater Huygens was taken during orbit 532 on 20 June 2004 with a ground resolution of approximately 70 metres per pixel.The displayed region is centred around longitude 61� East and latitude 14� South.This close-up view shows the heavily eroded crater rim, and part of the basin that has been subsequently filled by sediments transported into the crater. http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&start=46

This image, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA�s Mars Express spacecraft, shows Solis Planum, in the Thaumasia region of Mars.The image was taken during orbit 431 on 23 May 2004 with a ground resolution of approximately 48 metres per pixel. The displayed region is located south of Solis Planum at a longitude 271� East and latitude of about 33� South.The large eroded impact crater, seen bottom left of this image, has a diameter of about 53 kilometres and its eastern crater rim is about 800 metres high. The northern end of the higher region, upper left in this image, contains an almost circular plateau, which is 15 kilometres across.http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&single=y&start=576&size=b

This image was taken during orbit 528 on 19 June 2004, and shows the Dao Valles and Niger Valles areas at a point where the north-eastern Hellas impact crater basin and the Hesperia Planum volcanic region meet.This image is centred at Mars longitude 93� East and latitude 32� South.http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&single=y&start=600&size=b

On 2 May 2004, the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board the ESA Mars Express spacecraft obtained images from the central area of the Mars canyon called Valles Marineris. The images were taken at a resolution of approximately 16 metres per pixel. The displayed region is located at the southern rim of the Melas Chasma at Mars latitude 12�S and Mars longitude 285�E. The images were taken on orbit 360 of Mars Expresshttp://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&single=y&start=604&size=b

Image 4 of 6. These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA�s Mars Express, are of the Acheron Fossae region, an area of intensive tectonic (continental �plate�) activity in the past. The HRSC was pointed twice at this interesting geological feature in the Acheron Fossae mountain range, during orbits 37 and 143.The feature is situated at approximately 35�-40� North and 220�-230� East, about 1000 kilometres north of the large Olympus Mons volcano. Images 4-6, with the large crater, 55 kilometres in diameter, were taken about 250 kilometres west of images 1-3.They show how the rifting crosses the older impact crater with at least three alternating horsts and grabens. http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&single=y&start=611&size=b

Acheron Fossae marks the northern edge of the Tharsis plateau. It is part of a network of extensional fractures that radiates outward from their central focus in the Tharsis �bulge�, a huge area of regional uplift where intensive volcanic activity occurred. These curved �faults� were caused in the process of this uplift: cracks in the crust formed when the hot material rising from deep in the mantle of Mars pushed the overlying �elastic� lithosphere (surface layers of rock) upward. When the distorting tensions became too strong, the brittle crust on top of the lithosphere broke along zones of weakness. Images 1-3, from orbit 37, are dominated by these curved features, showing a highly fractured, faulted and deformed area in the central part of the Acheron Fossaehttp://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&start=52

The image is centred at 7.9 degrees North and 255.5 degrees East and shows a portion of the southern flank of Ascraeus Mons, the northernmost volcano of the Tharsis volcano group. North is at the right.The lighter, ''pink'' areas on the colour image are clouds. The peculiar depressions which can be observed here, and on several Martian volcanoes, are so-called ''lava tubes''. Lava tubes are caused by the crusting (or cooled lava) which occurs over a lava channel, a covering making the channel into a tunnel. When lava production ceases, the tunnel empties and the roof of the tunnel falls in, making an elongated depression. Occasionally, the depression forms a chain of small pits over an emptied lava tunnel. Pit chains and lava tunnels are common on the Martian surface and are also seen on other terrestrial planets and the Moon. http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&single=y&start=634&size=b

This picture was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA�s Mars Express orbiter, in colour and 3D in orbit 18 on 15 January 2004, from a height of 273 km. The location is east of the Hellas basin at 41� South and 101� East. The area is 100 km across, resolution of 12 m per pixel, and shows a channel (Reull Vallis) once formed by flowing water. The landscape is seen in a perspective view, North is at top.

the OMEGA instrument on board ESA''s Mars Express has identified clay beds which may have supported the development of life in the past, between 4.5 and 4.2 thousand millions years ago - http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&mission=Mars%20Express&single=y&start=392&size=b