Скачать или смотреть Awesome First Image - Mars Trace Gas Orbiter (4K)

On April 15, 2018, the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter produced this test image of Korolev Crater. Here, the northern hemisphere summer is fading, and with respect to the seasons on Mars, the day is equivalent to early September on Earth. The bright white material is probably carbon dioxide frost, and tan puddling-colored material is most likely permanent year-round water ice.

Located at 73° north latitude and 195.5° west longitude, Korolev Crater is set in the high northern arctic of Mars. 84.2 kilometers in diameter, the crater was named after Sergey Pavlovich Korolev (1906–1966), the head Soviet rocket engineer and designer during the 1950s and 1960s."

Among several science goals, the Trace Gas Orbiter is looking for methane on Mars. Global evidence of methane has been detected in telescopic views from Earth, and the Curiosity rover has detected passing plumes. But until the arrival of the Trace Gas Orbiter, there has been no orbiting camera designed specifically to detect the source of this gas.

Methane is a common gas in the solar system, and in most instances, it is produced through non-biological processes. Potentially however, methane is also a signature for microbial life, and if we can pinpoint where this gas is emerging from the ground, a future rover mission could investigate the vent, and possibly discover whether the process indicates the presence of life.