It took engineers three months to plan this “operation.”
The American Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA shared the latest news from Mars. NASA’s Odyssey orbiter captured an unusual view of the Mars horizon with its camera. The department itself called the resulting photos “stunning.”
The images were taken from an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers above the surface of Mars – approximately the same altitude at which the International Space Station orbits Earth. NASA said:
The Odyssey orbiter captured clouds and dust in the sky of the Red Planet, as well as one of its two tiny moons.
The spacecraft captured a series of panoramic images showing the curved Martian landscape beneath transparent layers of clouds and dust. As noted by NASA, ten images “stitched” one after another offer not only a stunning new view of Mars, but will also help scientists gain new insight into the Martian atmosphere.
NASA Odyssey captured stunning photos of the Mars horizon
Jonathon Hill from Arizona State University explained:
If there were astronauts in Mars orbit, they would see exactly this prospect. No Mars spacecraft had ever captured this view before.
The reason this species is so unusual is the difficulty involved in creating it. Engineers at the mission and Lockheed Martin Space, which built Odyssey, spent three months planning the THEMIS observations. The infrared camera’s sensitivity to heat allows it to image ice, rock, sand and dust, as well as temperature changes on the planet’s surface.
In October 2023, NASA Odyssey marked 22 years since its arrival at Mars in 2001.
