Astronaut’s Eye View: Breathtaking Mars Horizon Captured by NASA’s Odyssey Orbiter
NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter has provided new panoramic images of Mars and its moon Phobos, offering fresh insights into the Martian landscape and atmosphere.
New Perspectives on Mars
NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter captured stunning images of Mars and its moon Phobos, providing a unique perspective of the planet’s curved landscape and atmosphere.
The Odyssey orbiter captured clouds and dust in the Red Planet’s skies, along with one of its two tiny moons.
This technical achievement enhances our understanding of Mars and aids future explorations.
Astronaut's Point of View from Orbit
Astronauts often react with awe when they see the curvature of the Earth below the International Space Station. Now Mars scientists are getting a taste of what that’s like, thanks to NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, which completed its 22nd year at the Red Planet last month.
The spacecraft captured a series of panoramic images that showcased the curving Martian landscape below gauzy layers of clouds and dust. Stitched end to end, the 10 images offer not only a fresh, and stunning, view of Mars, but also one that will help scientists gain new insights into the Martian atmosphere.
The spacecraft took the images in May from an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers) – the same altitude at which the space station flies above Earth.
The spacecraft took the images in May from an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers) – the same altitude at which the space station flies above Earth.
Challenges and Achievements
The reason why the view is so uncommon is because of the challenges involved in creating it. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission, and Lockheed Martin Space, which built Odyssey and co-leads day-to-day operations, spent three months planning the THEMIS observations.
The mission wanted a more expansive view of the atmosphere. Seeing where those layers of water-ice clouds and dust are in relation to each other – whether there’s one layer or several stacked on top of each other – helps scientists improve models of Mars’ atmosphere.
Because THEMIS can’t pivot, adjusting the angle of the camera requires adjusting the position of the whole spacecraft. In this case, the team needed to rotate the orbiter almost 90 degrees while making sure the Sun would still shine on the spacecraft’s solar panels but not on sensitive equipment that could overheat.
