While the rest of the world was buzzing about the report by NASA scientists that Mars possibly had an ocean with more water than Earth’s Arctic Ocean about 4.3 billion years ago, the Mars Orbiter launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was looking at something that happened a little more recently – what appears to be a mushroom cloud on the surface of the planet!
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was launched on November 5, 2013, and entered Mars orbit on September 24, 2014. Images taken by the onboard Mars Colour Camera (MCC) and displayed on the ISRO website are breathtaking in color and clarity. Especially the one with the mushroom cloud.
Interesting that it was only India's orbiter that somehow spotted it, but not ESA's. ;-) To read more, click here.