india

Updated: Mar 06, 2015 13:02 IST

Three images captured by Mangalyaan – India’s first spacecraft to Mars — have been uploaded on social media a day before Holi.

The images have been put up by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

“These images of Eos Chaos region of Mars were taken by Mars color camera on February 5 at a spatial resolution of 220m from an altitude of 4403km. Eos Chaos is located at eastern part of Valles Marineris region. Grabens/Fracture patterns at the edges of Valles Marineris are clearly seen at this resolution. Images at this coarse resolution are use full for understanding geological processes at regional scale,” Isro said on its facebook page.

There are also images of Valles Marineris and adjoining regions of Mars taken by Mars color camera on board the spacecraft at a spatial resolution of 1.2km from an altitude of 24000km. Valles Marineris is largest canyon system about 4000km and 200km wide and 7km deep. This image also shows Noctis Labyrinthus at bottom left corner of the image. Fracture patterns at the center of Valles Marineris and northern portion of Noctis Labyrinthus are clearly seen at this resolution.

The spacecraft has also captured the three dimensional view of Arsia Mons created by draping the Mars color Camera (MCC) image on topography of the region derived from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimter (MOLA). This Image of Arsia Mons region was taken by Mars color camera on board Mangalyaan at a spatial resolution of 556 m from an altitude of 10707 km. Volcanic deposits located at the flanks of the Mons are seen in this image.

An image of the Valles Marineris region of Mars taken by Mangalyaan. It is the largest canyon system, about 4000km, 200km wide and 7km deep.