Mars Express
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Mars Express is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a deep-space probe, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 11,176 triangles in a 72 kB glTF file, and is 20 m across at full scale.
On Space Radar’s live map it is drawn where the craft is today. Open it on the map.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Body x | 1.5 m |
| Body y | 1.4 m |
| Body z | 1.8 m |
| Span | 12 m |
| Hga | 1.6 m |
| Marsis dipole | 20 m |
Wikipedia, 'Mars Express', en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Express, OPENED 2026-10-20: 'The main body is 1.5 m × 1.8 m × 1.4 m in size.'; 'The solar panels measure about 12 m tip-to-tip.'; 'the solar panels which contain 11.42 square meters of silicon cells'; 'A 1.6 m diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna and two omnidirectional antennas.'; 'Two Mars lander relay UHF antennas are mounted on the top face.'; 'Two 20 m long wire dipole antennas extend from opposite side faces perpendicular to the solar panels.'; 'a bipropellant 400 N main engine'; 'eight 10 N thrusters, one attached to each corner of the spacecraft bus'; 'The spacecraft is covered in gold-plated aluminium-tin alloy thermal blankets.' DERIVED: each panel 0.96 x 1.48 m (11.42 m2 over eight, four a wing as every picture draws them). OURS: the yoke's fin and frame, the dish's depth, the places and sizes of everything on the top face, the radiators, the thrusters' sizes. SHORTENED, AND SAID: the dipole 5.6 m a side of 20 m, the monopole 2 m of 7 m. (read 2026-10-20)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and NASA/JPL pictures (public domain).
The full record
built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh: NASA's 3D Resources (the whole tree, read 2026-10-20) and NASA Science's search have none of this craft, and ESA publishes none under terms that allow a derivative. NASA/JPL's illustrations (public domain) were looked at for the layout and are not in the file; NO ESA PICTURE OR MODEL IS IN THE FILE: ESA's published numbers were read as numbers. ESA's terms for the images on its site, read 2026-10-15 (esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_Conditions): 'The website of the European Space Agency (the ESA Website) provides to users an online access to space images and videos for education, editorial and/or information purposes only. All other uses (e.g. commercial ones) are excluded and require a specific licence.' ESA's renders on Wikimedia Commons are CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (share-alike) and were looked at only
Where the map uses it. JPL Horizons -41, Mars Express (data/sample.js `deep-mars-express`), ESA's Mars orbiter since 2003, drawn from Mars: a black box with a 1.6 m dish on one face, two four-panel wings on D-shaped yokes and the MARSIS radar's wire dipole. It was the generic probe; public #1085
Licence note. Public domain (NASA/JPL's illustrations by Corby Waste, which the layout was read off: looked at, with credit; nothing of them is in the file); the shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). ESA's render of today (ESA392355, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) was looked at only, for the black blankets and the top face. NO ESA PICTURE OR MODEL IS IN THE FILE. NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 3
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Mars Express illustration highlighting MARSIS antennaNASA/JPL/Corby WastePublic domain (NASA/JPL/Corby Waste; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-20)
- Mars Express over Tharsis volcanoesNASA/JPL/ESA, Corby WastePublic domain (NASA/JPL/ESA, Corby Waste; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-20)
- Mars Express ESA392355ESACC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (European Space Agency; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-20): share-alike, LOOKED AT ONLY for today's colours and the top face, not fetched by the tool and not in any file
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Mars Express 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=mars-express" title="Mars Express, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
Galileo's atmospheric probe
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
