This spectacular first image of Mars from the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is just a hint of what's to come

Dr Ed Weiler

The picture is a thermal infrared image of the Martian southern hemisphere.

It shows the south polar carbon dioxide ice cap at a temperature of about minus 120 C (minus 184 F).

Mars Odyssey entered orbit around Mars last week after a six-month, 460 million kilometre (285 million mile) journey.

The image, taken as part of the calibration and testing process for the instrument, shows the nighttime temperatures of Mars and demonstrates the capability of Odyssey's cameras to observe the planet even when the surface is in darkness.

Search for water

"This spectacular first image of Mars from the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is just a hint of what's to come," said Dr Ed Weiler, associate administrator for space science at the agency (Nasa).

"After we get Odyssey into its final orbit, it will be much closer to Mars than when it took this image, and we'll be able to tell whether or not there are any hot springs on Mars, places where liquid water may be close to the surface. If there are any such locations they would be places we might like to explore on future missions."

The image covers a length of more than 6,500 kilometres (3,900 miles), spanning the planet from limb to limb, with a resolution of approximately 5.5 kilometres per pixel (3.4 miles per pixel), at the point directly beneath the spacecraft.

Odyssey took six months to get to Mars