- NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter captures a new panorama of Arsia Mons, one of Mars' largest volcanoes, peeking through clouds at dawn.
- Arsia Mons is part of the Tharsis Montes, often surrounded by water ice clouds, especially in the early morning.
- This is the first time a volcano has been imaged on Mars’ horizon, offering a perspective similar to astronauts viewing Earth from the ISS.
- Odyssey, the longest-running mission orbiting another planet, began capturing high-altitude images of the Martian horizon in 2023.
- The spacecraft rotates 90 degrees to snap these images, allowing scientists to study dust and water ice cloud layers.
- Seasonal differences in the images provide new insights into how Mars’ atmosphere evolves over time.
- Understanding Mars’ clouds is crucial for studying the planet’s weather and phenomena like dust storms, aiding future missions.
- Arsia Mons stands 12 miles high, twice as tall as Earth’s Mauna Loa, and is the cloudiest of the Tharsis volcanoes.
- The THEMIS camera on Odyssey can view Mars in visible and infrared light, helping identify subsurface water ice and study Mars’ moons.
- The Mars Odyssey Project is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with Lockheed Martin Space building the spacecraft.