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NASA ’s longest - servingMarsrobot has captured a unique photo of the Red Planet ’s crater - covered horizon that mimic what future Martian astronauts could one day see with their own eyes . And it took mission scientist more than three month to plan and fascinate .
The new image , which was unblock by NASA on Nov. 28 , show a segment of Mars ’s pockmarked surface , as well as a narrow stratum of the planet ’s wafer - fragile aura above the horizon . NASA ’s Odyssey Orbiter , which has been fly non - stop loops around the Red Planet since it arrive in 2001 , captured the photo sometime in May using its build up - in Thermal Emission Imaging System ( THEMIS ) .
For the first time, a spacecraft has captured a panoramic shot of Mars' horizon from space.
" If there were astronauts in orbit over Mars , this is the view they would have,“Jonathon Hill , aspace explorationexpert at Arizona State University and operation go for THEMIS , said in astatement . " No Mars spacecraft has ever had this kind of sentiment before . "
However , the colour in the photo are different from those astronauts would see because it was taken usinginfrared radiation syndrome . As a solution , Mars has lost its colorful hues and gained an overlaying multi - colour play pass off by different cloud case , including CO2 clouds , weewee clouds and dust clouds .
During the photoshoot , Odyssey also captured low - resolution images ofMars ' large moonPhobos ( indicate below ) as it moved across the satellite ’s line of sight .
Mission scientists had to roll Odyssey to focus THEMIS on the horizon.
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The mental image was taken from an altitude of around 250 mi ( 402 kilometers ) above the Martian control surface , which is roughly tantamount to the distance between Earth and theInternational Space Station(ISS ) . However , the pic proved to be much more challenging to take than an tantamount photo of Earth ’s view from the ISS .
Normally , THEMIS is maneuver direct at Mars ' surface , which makes it inconceivable for it to see anything other than the primer coat below it . To give the instrument a sentiment of the sensible horizon , missionary post scientists had to rotate Odyssey more than 90 degrees . This is not the first sentence that the orbiter team has rolled the space vehicle , but it is a much more extreme turn than they have ever attempted before .
Odyssey also spotted Phobos moving across its line of sight.
Once the ballistic capsule was in the right situation , it kept its eye on the sensible horizon for a full orbit before splay back into its normal position . The picture released by NASA is a composite of more than 10 prototype taken during that sentence , which have been stitch together .
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cant over Odyssey was wild because its solar panel need to be regularly pointed at the sun to maintain power and to stop sore equipment from overheating . The only way to do this while rotating the orbiter was to point the spacecraft ’s antennae off from Earth , which meant that scientist could not control the spacecraft during the maneuver . Therefore , the squad had to perfectly be after the trick before it happened .
The Odyssey squad say they are pleased with how the image turn out , but want to repeat the photoshoot in the future to see if they can produce an even better shaft .
