Dust obscures surface of Mars

Example of an image affected by the global dust storm that began in late May, and which had engulfed the planet a month later. Although it is now subsiding, the dust in the atmosphere has obscured images taken by orbiting spacecraft.

This image was taken by the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System, CaSSIS, onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter on 3 August. Because the image quality was so reduced, the  camera was switched off for much of the storm period, only returning to routine imaging in late August. Despite the challenges, images like these have allowed the team to better calibrate their observations by identifying sources of straylight.