NASA releases image of Mars

Nasa has released a new full-circle image of planet Mars, which it says is the "next best thing to being there". The view comes from the panoramic camera on Nasa's Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, combinging 817 images. It shows the tracks left by the rover while exploring a crater.

NASA said: "This scene recorded from the mast-mounted color camera includes the rover's own solar arrays and deck in the foreground, providing a sense of sitting on top of the rover and taking in the view. Its release this week coincides with two milestones: Opportunity completing its 3,000th Martian day on July 2, and NASA continuing past 15 years of robotic presence at Mars. Mars Pathfinder landed July 4, 1997. NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter reached the planet while Pathfinder was still active, and Global Surveyor overlapped the active missions of the Mars Odyssey orbiter and Opportunity, both still in service."