Bernese Mars Camera CaSSIS Returns Spectacular Images
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ExoMars is a space mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) in cooperation with the Russian space agency Roskosmos. ExoMars stands for exobiology on Mars: for the first time since the 1970s, active research is being conducted into life on Mars. So called trace gases including methane and their sources are being detected by the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) while the ExoMars programme as a whole (combining TGO with a rover, Rosalind Franklin, due to launch next year) will investigate how the water and the geochemical environment has changed with time.
The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) on board the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) was developed by an international team led by Prof. Nicolas Thomas of the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) at the University of Bern. The TGO launched three years ago today, on 14 March 2016. It arrived at Mars on 19 October that year, and spent over a year demonstrating the aerobraking technique needed to reach its science orbit, starting its prime mission at the end of April 2018.The image shows a panchromatic channel image of the InSight landing site on Mars.
The image shows an area of about 2.25 km x 2.25 km in the Elysium Planitia region. The original image had a scale of about 4.5 m per pixel, and has been stretched by a factor of two for display purposes. The resulting resolution of this image is 5-6 m/pixel. The positions of the InSight lander itself, the blast marks from the retro rockets used during landing, the heatshield and the backshell of the entry descent and landing system are marked. The original image had a scale of about 4.5 m per pixel, and has been expanded to 2.25 m/pixel for display purposes
Amongst a new showcase of images from CaSSIS is an image of NASA’s InSight lander – the first time a European instrument has identified a lander on the Red Planet. InSight arrived on Mars on 26 November 2018 to study the interior of the planet. Images of the lander have already been returned by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, these are the first images from TGO.
The panchromatic image was captured by CaSSIS on 2 March 2019, and covers an area of about 2.25 x 2.25 km. At that time, InSight was hammering a probe into the surface in order to measure heat coming from inside the planet. The CaSSIS view shows InSight as a slightly brighter dot in the centre of the dark patch produced when the lander fired its retro rockets just before touchdown in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars, and disturbed the surface dust. The heat shield released just before landing can also be seen on the edge of a crater, and the backshell used to protect the lander during descent is also identified.
“The TGO is being used to relay data from InSight to Earth,” says Nicolas Thomas, CaSSIS Principal Investigator, from the University of Bern. “Because of this function, to avoid uncertainties in communications, we had not been able to point the camera towards the landing site so far – we had to wait until the landing site passed directly under the spacecraft to get this image.”
This image shows dust dunes cascading over the edge of Green Crater, in the Noachis Terra region of Mars. Dunes on Mars are dynamic features, observed to move at speeds of up to 5 m per martian year. Dust devil streaks -blue in this colour-composite representation — are seen on the interior wall of the crater. Use red-blue stereo ’3D’ glasses to best enjoy this view of dust dunes.
Credit: © ESA/Roscosmos/CaSSIS
The image of InSight also demonstrates that CaSSIS will be able to take pictures of the future ExoMars mission. The mission comprises a rover – named Rosalind Franklin – together with a surface science platform, and is due to be launched in July 2020, arriving at Mars in March 2021. TGO will also act as the data relay for the rover.
Science showcase
Also released today is a selection of images capturing the impressive science capabilities of CaSSIS, ranging from high-resolution views of curious surface features and images that highlight the diversity of minerals on the surface, to 3D stereo views and digital terrain models. The images have been produced by teams from the University of Bern, the University of Arizona, and INAF-Padova.
The images selected include detailed views of polar layered deposits, the dynamic nature of dunes, and the surface effects of converging dust devils. The stereo images bring the scenes alive by providing an extra insight into elevation differences, which is essential for deciphering the history in which different layers and deposits were laid down.
Colour-composite images are processed to better highlight the contrast of surface features. Combined with data from other instruments, this allows scientists to trace out regions that have been influenced by water, for example. These images can also be used to help guide surface exploration missions and provide broader regional context for landers and rovers.
This image was taken in the Terra Sabaea region of Mars, west of Augakuh Vallis. This mysterious pattern sits on the crest of a ridge, and is thought to be the result of dust devil activity – essentially the convergence of hundreds or maybe even thousands of smaller martian tornadoes. This image is a colour-composite representation where features that are bluer compared to the average colour of Mars are shown in bright blue hues. In actual colour, the streaks would appear dark red
“This stunning image showcase really demonstrates the scientific potential we have with TGO’s imaging system,” says Håkan Svedhem, ESA’s TGO project scientist. “Over the course of the mission we’ll be able to investigate dynamic surface processes, including those that might also help to constrain the atmospheric gas inventory TGO’s spectrometers are analysing, as well as characterise future landing sites.” ?
Support of the SERI / Swiss Space Office
CaSSIS is a project of the University of Bern and funded through the Swiss Space Office via the European Space Agency’s PRODEX programme. The instrument hardware development was also supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), INAF/Astronomical Observatory of Padova, and the Space Research Center (CBK) in Warsaw.
This image covers a portion of the wall-terrace region of the 100 km-wide Columbus Crater located within Terra Sirenum in the southern hemisphere of Mars. These layers contain various hydrated minerals, such as sulphate salts that appear to cover the white-coloured rocks. The rocks appear to line the crater wall. These ‘bathtub rings’ are consistent with deposits formed by lakes that start to dry up and, through evaporation, begin to deposit specific minerals turn by turn.
Swiss contributions to ESA programmes enable swiss scientists and industry to participate in selected missions.
Bernese space exploration: working together with the world’s elite for 50 years
When viewed in terms of figures, Bernese space exploration reveals an impressive balance sheet: Instruments have flown into the upper atmosphere and ionosphere with rockets 25 times (1967-1993), into the stratosphere on balloon flights 9 times (1991-2008), 33 instruments have accompanied space probes on their missions, and a satellite has been built (CHEOPS, start of the 2nd half of 2019).
The successful work of the department of Space Research & Planetology (WP) from the Physics Institute of the University of Bern was consolidated by the founding of a university competence center: the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH). The Swiss National Fund also awarded the University of Bern the national research focus (NRF) PlanetS, which they manage together with the University of Geneva.
Contacts and sources:
Nicolas Thomas
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