Never-before-seen scene on Mars in this photo that took NASA 3 months to capture

NASA's Odyssey orbiter captured a unique view of the Martian horizon that astronauts will see if they ever set foot on the Red Planet. The photo took scientists three months to plan and capture.

This image shows the bumpy surface of Mars as well as a thin layer of the planet's atmosphere above the horizon. The Odyssey orbiter has been orbiting Mars in a nonstop loop since 2001, capturing the image using the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS).

"If astronauts were in orbit around Mars, this is what they would see. No spacecraft has ever had this view of Mars ," said Jonathon Hill, a space exploration expert at Arizona State University.

This photo took scientists 3 months to plan and capture. (Photo: NASA).

However, the colors in this photo are different from what astronauts see because it uses infrared radiation. The photo was taken at an altitude of 402km above the surface of Mars, which is about the same distance from Earth to the International Space Station (ISS). However, taking this photo was more difficult than taking a photo of the Earth's horizon from the ISS.

Normally, THEMIS is pointed directly at the Martian surface, so it can't see anything but the ground below. To get the instrument to see the horizon, scientists had to rotate Odyssey more than 90 degrees. This isn't the first time they've rotated the spacecraft, but this rotation was more challenging than any they've attempted before.

Rotating Odyssey was risky because the solar panels needed to be constantly pointed at the Sun to maintain power and prevent the sensors from overheating. Scientists had to plan the process perfectly to get the shot off without any problems. They also said they were pleased with the image Odyssey captured, but wanted to repeat the process in the future to see if they could get a better picture.