Continuing the interesting photo ops which ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (more joyfully known as MOM) has been doing at mars, the space agency has today released an interesting set of pictures from the Red planet.
ISRO’s has released the latest pictures of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system taken from a height of 32,282 km by the Mars Colour Camera (MCC) aboard the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). The MCC has successfully captured the presence of Water vapour clouds around the top of the mountain. This comes as further proof of the findings from NASA about the presence of water on Mars.
Olympus Mons holds the record as the largest volcano in the solar system. The height of Olympus Mons dwarfs the height peak on the Earth, the Mount Everest by a staggering three times.
ISRO has stated that the presence of water vapour is a common sighting on Mars during its current planetary cycle. Even at such altitudes though, these water vapours can be clearly identified, validating one of the most significant findings in the space exploration.
The MOM carries on board five scientific instruments namely the MCC, Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) and Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA). MOM will help us understand the atmosphere on Mars, its surface mineralogy and the geography of the Red Planet.
The MOM was successfully launched with the help of PSLV-C25 from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota on 5th November 2013.
Even after two years of operation the MOM continues to function in optimum capacity. ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar has stated that the health of the MOM is extremely good.
ISRO is currently working towards the launch of Chandrayaan-2. The mission will see the landing of a rover onto the surface of the moon with high probabilities of a human exploration as well. The mission is likely going to be launched in 2017 and is aimed at collecting data about the environment on Moon and send it back to Earth.
ISRO is running on the slew of success accomplished during its Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan missions. This has promoted the premier space research organisation to launch another mission named Aditya, which is the name given to a satellite that will study various aspects of the Sun and overall nature of the solar eclipses.
