"On the special occasion of Mars Express's 20th anniversary since launch, we wanted to bring Carl Sagan's reflections back to the present day, in which the worsening climate and ecological crisis make them more valid than ever," said Jorge Hernández Bernal, of the University of the Basque Country and Sorbonne University, who was part of the Mars Express team that worked to capture the images, in a statement.
Illustration released by the European Space Agency shows Mars Express in orbit around the red planet. Mars Express was launched by a Soyuz spacecraft on June 2, 2003.
The images that make up the European Space Agency's time-lapse video were captured by the super resolution channel of the Mars Express orbiter's high resolution stereo camera, which is mainly used to observe the stars as well as Mars' two moons. The orbiter's mission is focused on investigating Mars' atmosphere and climate as well as the structure of the planet itself, its geology and mineralogy, and any potential traces of water.