Published 18:55 IST, August 13th 2020
NASA shares mesmerising pictures of Mars clicked by its Reconnaissance orbiter
NASA, on August 13, shared some mesmerizing photographs of Mars clicked by one its orbiters. Posting the photographs on Twitter, it wrote, 'Beautiful mars!'
- Science News
- 2 min read
NASA, on August 13, shared some mesmerizing photographs of Mars ed by one its orbiters. Posting the photographs on Twitter, the American space agency revealed that the images were captured by it’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which was launched 15 years ago with an aim to study the red planet. Although the orbiter carefully performed its task and analysed the red planet’s atmosphere, weather, subsurface water etc, the agency said that it would always be remembered for the images sent by it’s HiRISE camera.
The enchanting photographs have created quite a buzz on the internet. Since shared earlier today they have racked up over 18 thousand likes and some exited comments. One user wrote, “I wish I could go there. Way more peaceful than here on earth." While another wrote, “Beautiful". Yet another wrote, "The discovery of life on Mars, either in the form of ancient fossils or subterranean reservoirs, would be one of the most momentous breakthroughs in human history."
'Perseverance' on Mars
In another news, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover, which was launched last month, has also carried several essential instruments along with tree-like Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE). The Moxie will be able to generate oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Red Planet similar to the trees on earth. If successful, the Mpxie would be highly useful in future manned missions to build a biosphere that can support life.
NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter that was lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 30 will land on the Red Planet February 18, 2021, and will conduct its ‘main job’ of finding signs of ancient life along with collecting rock and soil samples for a possible return to Earth making it the first rover for Astrobiology. The entire duration of the mission under NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is nearly 687 earth days that sums up one Mars year.
Updated 18:55 IST, August 13th 2020