This image is an approximate view of what the human eye would have seen during the flight. It shows the MIRIAM Service Module high above Sweden as seen by the Camera Module on top of the REXUS-4 payload section. Since the individual images were taken over a period of several seconds, the relative position and state of individual objects is not correct. The second stage motor can be seen dropping away left from the center of the image, while the Service Module's jammed clamp ring is still attached. The image capture sequence is from far left to far right. The individual frames were captured by the Camera Module's solid state video camcorders. Lens distortions ("pillowing") were not corrected, which is why the curvature of the horizon does not match on either side.

This image shows the REXUS-4 Payload section with the still attached second stage motor. It was assembled from frames captured by the left-hand TV-boom-camera on board the Service Module (the left-hand boom is the red one pointing upwards and towards the observer in the other photo in this dispatch).

The differences in shades in both images result from the camera's adaptive exposure time, which leads to some frames being darker than others.

Use at your leisure. Image Rights: The Mars Society Germany and the University of the Federal Armed Forces of Germany, Munich.

MIRIAM was launched to a 175km peak altitude from the SSC ESRANGE rocket test site near Kiruna, North Sweden on October 22nd, 2008. It rode on top of the REXUS4 sounding rocket managed and built by the EuroLaunch Consortium.

ARCHIMEDES is an effort to probe the atmosphere of planet Mars by means of a hypersonic drag balloon, a device known as a "ballute". The project is currently under study, proposed and supported by the Mars Society Germany, the Universität der Bundeswehr München, the AMSAT-DL .e.V. organization, the DLR, and several other research institutions and industrial companies. The probe is planned to be integrated into the AMSAT's P5-A Mars satellite, and to be released from the spacecraft when in orbit around the planet.

To obtain more information please feel free to direct inquiries to the German Mars Society - an independent organization affiliated with the International Mars Society - at either hg@marssociety.de or hannes.griebel@unibw.de. More information is also available at the German Mars Society's web site.