Mars orbiter photographs part of solar system’s largest canyon

 
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has released a detailed 3D image depicting Ophir Chasma, a canyon on Mars believed to be part of the largest such chasm in the solar system.
Using the Mangalyaan orbiter’s Mars Color Camera instrument, the probe captured an image of a long, steep depression located in the Coprates Quadrangle on Mars, which the ISRO explained can be found at 4° south latitude and 72.5° west longitude on the Red Planet. The walls of Ophir Chasma have multiple layers, they added, and the floor contains large, layered mineral deposits.
The new image depicts the 197-mile (317km) long, 38.5-mile (62km) wide canyon in a resolution of 96 megapixels, the agency said. It was taken at an altitude of about 1,154 miles (1,857km) and comes on the heels of images snapped earlier this year by Mangalyaan that shows a stunning 3D view of Arsia Mons, a massive volcano on Mars with a 10-mile (16km) peak.
About India’s successful, low budget Mars orbiter
According to CNET and BBC News, the images were actually taken on July 19 and released in time to commemorate India’s Independence Day. Launched in November 2013 and costing only $74 million, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission marked the country’s first interplanetary mission, and the first time any nation successfully sent a probe to Mars on its first attempt.
Mangalyaan, which means “Mars-craft” in Sanskrit, had a budget just a fraction of similar missions to the Red Planet (the Maven mission, for instance, ran NASA $671 million). The ISRO probe reached orbit around Mars in September 2014, and since then, it has been studying the planet’s surface and atmosphere, while also using cameras and spectrometers to capture images.
In addition to collecting data from Mars, one of the mission’s primary objectives is to serve as a demonstration of India’s ability to research, design and deploy interplanetary space technology, according to CNET. The surface images sent back to Earth will also help the country’s scientists better understand the geological processes taking place on the Red Planet.
Other objectives of the mission include establishing deep space communication, navigation, mission planning, and management capabilities; incorporating a series of autonomous features to handle contingency situations, and investigating the morphology, mineralogy, surface features, and atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments, the ISRO website said.
(Image credit: ISRO)