This image was taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft on 20 April 2005. It is a composite of two views of Mars Express taken from distances of about 250 and 370 kilometres.

Mars Express appears as a narrow blur rather than as a well-defined spacecraft shape, about 1.5 metres high and 15 metres long, which is consistent with the viewing distance, pixel scale and encounter geometry.

The MOC can resolve features on the surface of Mars as small as few metres from an orbital altitude of 350 to 405 kilometres. It can resolve objects smaller than one metre across from an altitude of 100 kilometres.