Redshift-live.com (RSL): Mr Ormston, the VMC camera, aka "The Mars Webcam", is back with a new website from its winter sleep. How is the spirit of the team?

Thomas Ormston: It is great to be online again. It was nice when we were able to start again with VMC back in February and the first pictures came in. Now we are just happy that the new website is online. That is really the purpose of the VMC project, to get the pictures online as quickly as possible and give people the opportunity to discuss and interact in a simple way. I am looking forward to greeting your readers on the VMC website. I want to encourage everyone to participate. We are only there for you.

RSL: What changed?

Ormston: The old website was very similar on the surface, but looking inside out it is clear that there are a lot more capabilities. The most important step forward was that the website loads the pictures automatically now. Before the pictures were sent to Earth and we had to manually put them online. That could take a while if there was a lot to do... Now Mars Express sends the pictures to Earth and as soon as they arrive they are loaded on the website automatically - fresh and and still hot from the space probe. In addition to that the new format allows us to be much more interactive. Through the possibility to comment every post we are in direct contact with the people who see the pictures from Mars and want to work with them. They can comment, leave notes and we can answer questions. That way they become part of the website.

RSL: And how are people responding?

Ormston: We just launched the site in the morning. The people are just starting to find their way around - I hope that we will see that soon.

RSL: You just went online today, but on your website are pictures from a few days ago.

Ormston: The page itself existed already for a while, we just worked on straightening out the automatic updates. That's why we only opened the website to the public today. From now on pictures are posted as soon as they are in.

RSL: So these pictures were already uploaded automatically?

Ormston: Yes, the last pictures went live online. They came in on March 20 and they were online 15 minutes later. So we are pretty sure that it is working.

Redshift-live.com (RSL): Mr Ormston, the VMC camera, aka "The Mars Webcam", is back with a new website from its winter sleep. How is the spirit of the team?

Thomas Ormston: It is great to be online again. It was nice when we were able to start again with VMC back in February and the first pictures came in. Now we are just happy that the new website is online. That is really the purpose of the VMC project, to get the pictures online as quickly as possible and give people the opportunity to discuss and interact in a simple way. I am looking forward to greeting your readers on the VMC website. I want to encourage everyone to participate. We are only there for you.

RSL: What changed?

Ormston: The old website was very similar on the surface, but looking inside out it is clear that there are a lot more capabilities. The most important step forward was that the website loads the pictures automatically now. Before the pictures were sent to Earth and we had to manually put them online. That could take a while if there was a lot to do... Now Mars Express sends the pictures to Earth and as soon as they arrive they are loaded on the website automatically - fresh and and still hot from the space probe. In addition to that the new format allows us to be much more interactive. Through the possibility to comment every post we are in direct contact with the people who see the pictures from Mars and want to work with them. They can comment, leave notes and we can answer questions. That way they become part of the website.

RSL: And how are people responding?

Ormston: We just launched the site in the morning. The people are just starting to find their way around - I hope that we will see that soon.

RSL: You just went online today, but on your website are pictures from a few days ago.

Ormston: The page itself existed already for a while, we just worked on straightening out the automatic updates. That's why we only opened the website to the public today. From now on pictures are posted as soon as they are in.

RSL: So these pictures were already uploaded automatically?

Ormston: Yes, the last pictures went live online. They came in on March 20 and they were online 15 minutes later. So we are pretty sure that it is working.