Martian mountain range in 3D - Martian mountain range in 3D

Martian mountain range in 3D. Today’s Image of the Day from the European Space Agency features a three-dimensional view of the Nereidum Mountain Range on Mars.

The digital illustration was created using data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter in 2015.

The picture features a dune field and two large craters with a canyon between them in the southern hemisphere of Mars.

The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) serves as the main mission control centre for the European Space Agency (ESA) and is located in DarmstadtGermany. ESOC’s primary function is the operation of unmanned spacecraft on behalf of ESA and the launch and early orbit phases (LEOP) of ESA and third-party missions. The Centre is also responsible for a range of operations-related activities within ESA and in cooperation with ESA’s industry and international partners, including ground systems engineering, software development, flight dynamics and navigation, development of mission control tools and techniques and space debris studies.

ESOC’s current major activities comprise operating planetary and solar missions, such as Mars Express and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, astronomy & fundamental physics missions, such as Gaia (spacecraft) and XMM Newton, and Earth observation missions such as CryoSat2 and Swarm (spacecraft).

Image Credit: European Space Agency 

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

 

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