Exploring Mars from orbit

A collection of spectacular images of the surface of Mars acquired by the CaSSIS instrument onboard ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. The image compilation has been put together by the CaSSIS science team to show interesting places on Mars at the highest colour resolution that the instrument can provide. Scale bars are provided on some of the images to give an indication of size. So far, CaSSIS has acquired over 11 000 images of the surface at a rate of about 24 per day.

Arriving at Mars in 2016, and embarking on its full science mission from April 2018, the Trace Gas Orbiter is making a detailed inventory of the Red Planet’s atmospheric gases – including those that could be linked to active geological or biological processes – and mapping signatures of buried water-ice below the surface. To complement these measurements, CaSSIS is imaging and characterising features on surface, including those that may be related to trace-gas sources, such as volcanoes. The orbiter will also provide data relay services for the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover once it arrives on Mars in 2023.

More information: esa.int/exomars