The first snapshots from two orbiters currently dancing a waltz around Mars reveal completely different perspectives on the Red Planet. Today, India’s MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission) spacecraft – also called Mangalyaan, meaning Mars Craft – tweeted its first image of the surface of Mars (see below) with the message “the view is nice up here”.
Meanwhile, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft sent back four views of Mars: three images taken in different wavelengths of ultraviolet and a fourth picture, made from combining the others.
The blue version shows ultraviolet light from the sun scattered by hydrogen gas, stretching thousands of kilometres above the planet’s surface. In the green image, sunlight is primarily reflected off oxygen, covering a smaller area than the cloud of hydrogen. The red picture shows ultraviolet sunlight reflected from the planet’s surface, revealing a bright spot in the lower right that is due to either polar ice or clouds.
(Image: Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado; NASA)
MOM and MAVEN’s success in reaching the Red Planet means we now have seven robonauts exploring Mars. Odyssey, Express and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are observing the planet from orbit while Curiosity and Opportunity are on the ground roving its surface.
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