In Early January 2004, two missions to Mars started sending back images of the planet's surface. The European Space Agency (ESA) lost its surface craft, Beagle 2, but is sending detailed images from the orbiting satellite, Mars Express.

NASA has been more fortunate with the successful landing of the Mars Rover vehicles (Spirit and Opportunity).

This collection of images are from the early stages of both missions and are supplied courtesy of NASA (Mars Rover) and the ESA (Mars Express) .