We are the ExoMars science and operations team at the Open University, working on the @ExoMars_NOMAD and @ExoMars_CaSSIS instruments.
Milton Keynes, England
Joined June 2018
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10 years since the @ESA_ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter launched to Mars. Members of our team built a spectrometer as part of @ExoMars_NOMAD and we continue to be involved in the operations, retrieval and interpretation of datasets to this day. Here's to 10 years more!
🚀 10 years ago, our largest and most sophisticated martian explorer left Earth behind.
To mark the launch anniversary, here are 5 remarkable things @esa's Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) was made for 🧵👇
Our group have been awarded another grant from the UK Space Agency to continue to develop detector technology that will contribute to a new imaging instrument for Mars, as part of the International Mars Ice Mapper and ESA Lightship-1 missions. tinyurl.com/588z4ews
ExoMars_OU retweeted
☄️ Our #ESAJuice team couldn't wait until February, when they will receive data on #3IATLAS from the mission's science instruments.
So they downloaded just a quarter of an image from its navigation camera to get a surprise sneak preview.
More info and annotations 👉 esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Image…
ALT Grainy space image, with white dots on a dark background. At the centre of the image is a larger, bright white blob with a faint white line stretching towards the top of the frame.
ALT Grainy space image, with white dots on a dark background. At the centre of the image is a larger, bright white blob with a faint white line stretching towards the top of the frame. Key elements of the image are labelled: coma, plasma tail, potential dust tail. An inset shows the location of the Sun, Juice and comet 3I/ATLAS during the observation.
ExoMars_OU retweeted
HiRISE Image of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS!
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
uahirise.org/releases/3i-atl…
ExoMars_OU retweeted
#PPOD: Mars’s Atmospheric Mille-Feuille 🍰
@ESA_TGO keeps gathering information from its orbit around #Mars to understand its ancient past and potential habitability. The spacecraft was cruising over the southern highlands of Terra Cimmeria, some 400 km above the Martian surface, when it recorded this composite of five vertical images on 21 January 2024. Towards the bottom is Mars; at the top, space.
The kaleidoscope of light and colour is composed of the highest resolution images of the atmosphere above the limb of Mars ever obtained. Mars’s limb is the curved edge of the planet, the apparent boundary where its surface meets space. Observing a planet's limb can reveal details about the hazy edge of its atmosphere.
The spacecraft was in the shadow of Mars, looking towards a veil of dust backlit by the setting sun. From this vantage point, the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) aboard could reveal fine layers of cloud and dust scattered throughout the atmosphere. The five images, each covering a 3.6 km-wide slice of the atmosphere, show tens of layers spanning altitudes from 15 to 55 km. Each slice pictured is 200 km apart from the others.
Credit: @esa TGO/CaSSIS
#planetaryscience
ALT Five vertical composite images of Mars' atmosphere, revealing multi-colored layers heading into the limb of space.
ExoMars_OU retweeted
HVI & SPE Labs recently had the pleasure of hosting @CranfieldUni MSc Astronautics & Space Engineering student projects! The students demonstrated innovation and critical thinking focussing on important knowledge gaps in the space industry - Find out more tinyurl.com/hzwrn29a
Several of our team members will be attending #EPSCDPS2025 in Helsinki next week to present our latest research including the latest NOMAD-UVIS ozone retrievals, optimising lander networks on Mars, exploration of the martian chlorine cycle and atmospheric dynamics on Venus.
We now also have an account on Bluesky, so do head over there and follow our group here too: bsky.app/profile/exomars-ou.…
A couple of our team were talking to the public about the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission on Saturday at the MK International Festival. It was great to see so many people and discuss the mission and our research with them. The picture shows the calm before the storm!
Our group has been awarded €500k grant from European Space Agency to lead phase A study for HiRIME, a high-resolution imager for Mars launching in 2032 on the SpotLight spacecraft that forms part of the Lightship-1 mission. More details can be found here: open.ac.uk/blogs/news/scienc…
Our group recently published a companion paper investigating the chlorine cycle on Mars, now looking at how heterogeneous processes bring the modelled chlorine cycle more in line with observations from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1029/2024GL111059
Our group has recently published a paper investigating the global transport of chlorine on Mars and links to perchlorates on the surface. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1029/2024JE008537
Our group has recently published a paper investigating circulation regimes at different altitudes of the Venusian atmosphere and its broader application to studies of exoplanets. Check it out here: iopscience.iop.org/article/1…
Interested in the future of infrared technology for space exploration? Our team are involved in the NITEMARES project that is testing the performance of IR technology in conditions like those seen in orbit around Mars. Find out more here: space.blog.gov.uk/2024/10/31…
The first #Enfys science team meeting for @ESA_ExoMars went well today at the @NHM_London @NHM_Meteorites, with our own Juan Alday presenting.
Our group has recently published a paper investigating transport timescales throughout the Venusian atmosphere and how atmospheric waves drive variations in trace species. Well done Maureen! Check it out here: iopscience.iop.org/article/1…
ExoMars_OU retweeted
Two European spacecraft play hide and seek around Mars for new atmospheric science. 🫣📡📶
🃏 @ESA_TGO has a new capability under its sleeve: mutual radio occultation. For the first time, underused short-range antennas from the Trace Gas Orbiter and Mars Express are put to work to probe the martian atmosphere.
👀 blogs.esa.int/to-mars-and-ba…
ALT Martian mutual radio occultation measurement between ESA’s Mars Express (foreground) and Trace Gas Orbiter (background) spacecraft around Mars.
ExoMars_OU retweeted
Say cheese, again! 📸😄
Juice’s scientific camera, JANUS, had a go too at snapping an Earth–Moon portrait, as it sailed off towards Venus.
After its Venus flyby in August 2025, #ESAJuice will be back, passing by Earth again in September 2026 and January 2029.
esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Image…
ALT View of the Moon on the left and the Earth on the right, half lit. The two objects appear very tiny as they were photographed by Juice's scientific camera from over 5 million km away.
ExoMars_OU retweeted
🎞️🍿 Follow the first episode of 'The journey of Juice' - a video series that takes you behind the scenes at ESA as the spacecraft travels across the Solar System to its final destination, Jupiter 👇
esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Video…
ExoMars_OU retweeted
Curious to find out more about #ESAJuice's lunar-Earth flyby? Join members of the Juice science and operations team online to hear about perspectives from navigation, science and radiation.
🗓️13:00 CEST, 27 September 2024
Zoom link 👉 us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi…
ALT View of our cratered Moon at the top of the image, as captured by the Juice monitoring camera 1 (JMC1) at 23:25 CEST on 19 August 2024, soon after Juice made its closest approach to the Moon. On the left side of the image we see parts of the spacecraft itself.