The actual closest flyby altitude was ultimately 67km due to an engine overburn ... http://webservices.esa.int/blog/blog/7

New SPICE kernels are in as well, taking us to 20Mar and hence the remaining close flybys. Just to add confusion, the table below states UTC times and not ephemeris times as my earlier table:

Some early pictures are released

This image was taken 656km across.

The grooves are beginning to look more like crater chains.

LOL indeed - the flybys so far have not even included imaging.

The image you direct link to without citation is from here
: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMIPX6K56G_0.html

Which then links to here
: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMIPX6K56G_1.html

Where we find out


So no - they've NOT released early pictures because that's an 18 month old , and they've not even TAKEN any with this new flyby sequence yet.

i see a lot of those chains and these do not look like them
I will go look for some and post pics .

They couldn't take images in this sequence because MEX had to be in "passive mode" for accurate tracking for the Phobos-gravity experiment.
IIRC, this flyby was over the night side, so the images wouldn't have been too enlightening anyway.

Edit:
peter59 already said that.

It's okay-- I know the old debate, which is why I'm curious what they look like at smaller scales. Apparently that photo wasn't it, although I did think they were planning shoots outside the radio science portion of this flyby.

It's late, so take this thought experiment as woolly night owl speculation;

We apparently are seeing 'ring residue' on Rhea's surface from a rather tenuous, but seemingly fairly organized orbiting system. Now imagine for the moment, a mini sub-moon (like maybe in the 1-2km range) placed ~~1000km above Rhea's equator. What does the 'ring residue' look like if it 'splats' onto the 1-2 km sub-moon ? (or more precisely, what does the sub-moon look like after it is splattered)

(I think the size of the sub-moon might need to be closely constrained, I am trying to minimize shepherding effects)

Plausibly Phobos-like, or completely un-Phobos like?

Could dust (crud) knocked off Deimos organize to the extent of the Rhean residue, apparently detected by Cassini's MIMI instrument, on it's way spiraling down to Mars ?

well it is an old one at that

-- idea from above post
?????????????
what if .... a ring ( at mars) was at the same orbit as Phobos
and the moon eat-up the ring .
and the ring material carved out the lines - like from a sand-blaster

i have NO evidence, but...

Oups, so ashamed to have been fooled so easily by a press release.
Thanks a lot for your attention.

Date Altitude (km) * Instruments used during flyby

16 February 991 PFS, SPICAM, ASPERA
22 February 574 PFS, SPICAM, ASPERA
25 February 398 PFS, MARSIS
28 February 226 PFS, MARSIS
03 March 50 MaRS, ASPERA
07 March 107 HRSC, OMEGA, MARSIS, SPICAM, ASPERA
10 March 286 HRSC, OMEGA, MARSIS, ASPERA
13 March 476 HRSC, SPICAM, PFS, ASPERA
16 March 662 HRSC, SPICAM, PFS, ASPERA
19 March 848 HRSC, SPICAM, PFS, ASPERA
23 March 1341 Not used
26 March 1304 HRSC, SPICAM, PFS,

John W,
I would expect the deposition of ring material to build mountains, not canyons (see Atlas, Pan).
Unless it was less of a ring and more of an asteroid belt.



I agree they look like them. (image from MRO below)

The crater chain hypothesis fails to explain why the linear features on Phobos are in series of parallel lines. There are sets of parallel lines pointing one direction, and sets of parallel lines pointing another direction.

What about tidal fracturing (with loose material filling the gaps, falling in a funnel-like pattern to produce the observed crater shapes) followed by reorienting of the moon by some mechanism, then continued tidal stress in a new orientation.

As for the two criss-crosing linear features in the image below, I have no idea.

New massive batch (2010-02-17) - orbits 6402-7094




Orbits: 6551, 6637, 6745, 6758, 6757

Too much noise for my limited skills to bring out anything notable on the night side.

I thought there was a theory that the sets of parallel lines were caused by ejecta from impacts on Mars?