Scientists have achieved a groundbreaking feat by capturing the first-ever views of Mars from a perspective replicating what an astronaut would see from the Worldwide Area Station (ISS).
NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter, tasked with making ready for future human missions to Mars, took a sequence of panoramic pictures in Could from an altitude of roughly 250 miles (400 kilometers) – matching the ISS’s orbit round Earth.
The stitched-together pictures reveal the Martian panorama beneath layers of clouds and mud, offering a singular and informative perspective.
The unprecedented view not solely gives gorgeous visuals of Mars but additionally aids scientists in gaining new insights into the planet’s environment. Whereas no astronauts are at present on Mars, the captured imagery supplies an approximation of the view they may have when orbiting the Pink Planet.
Jonathan Hill of Arizona State College, operations lead for Odyssey’s Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), highlighted the importance of the angle, stating:
“If there have been astronauts in orbit over Mars, that is the angle they’d have. No Mars spacecraft has ever had this type of view earlier than.”
Creating this view offered technical challenges that engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Area addressed throughout three months of planning. The THEMIS digital camera, which is delicate to heat, often factors straight down, limiting its potential to seize a broader view of the Martian environment.
To beat this limitation, the spacecraft needed to be rotated nearly 90 levels, quickly interrupting communication with Earth through the operation.
Odyssey’s THEMIS Views the Horizon of Mars. (Picture: NASA)
THEMIS, with its infrared capabilities, can map numerous options on Mars, together with ice, rock, sand, and mud, and measure temperature modifications. The captured pictures will contribute to bettering fashions of Mars’ environment by revealing the positioning of water-ice clouds and mud layers in relation to one another.
The Odyssey mission goals to seize related pictures sooner or later, offering insights into the Martian environment throughout a number of seasons.
Jeffrey Plaut, Odyssey’s undertaking scientist at JPL, described the achievement as akin to “viewing a cross-section, a slice by way of the environment,” emphasizing the added element that this distinctive perspective supplies for scientific understanding.
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