29 Nov 2016

CaSSIS (Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System) has been developed by a team from the University of Bern led by Nicolas Thomas. It was launched with the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) on 14 March 2016. TGO entered orbit around Mars on 19 October. The camera onboard, CaSSIS, has returned its first images from orbit.
The stereo camera is a cooperation between the University of Bern, the Astronomical Observatory of Padua (INAF) and the Space Research Center in Warsaw with the support of local industries and funded by the Swiss Space Office (SSO), the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Polish Space Agency(POLSA).

"The first images we received are absolutely spectacular and it was only meant to be a test", said Nicolas Thomas, principal investigator of CaSSIS and Director of the Physics Institute at the University of Bern.
"These first images taken by CaSSIS on the ExoMars TGO are captivating. They make us feel closer to Mars, the most important destination in the human and robotic exploration" said ASI President Roberto Battiston "They are incredibly amazing. CaSSIS, built in Italy, started its task a few days ago. Next pictures are expected to have a more accurate resolution".

"It is the proof of how the cooperation among ASI, INAF, international partners and Italian industries - such as Leonardo Finmeccanica - worked and achieved the highest levels", ended up Battiston.
TGO is currently in an elliptical orbit of 240 km x 100.000 km. It makes a fast close fly-by of the surface every 4 days. Two of these close approaches to Mars were selected to test the payload of TGO and the pointing of the spacecraft. The first occurred on 22 November.

"The satellite has been working in a proper way, as well as all the instruments" said Gabriele Cremonese (INAF, Astronomical Observatory of Padua), Co-Principal Investigator.
The Bern team has spent much of the time planning the observation sequences for the two close approaches. A total of 11 imageswere returned during the first fly-by. The spacecraft passed over a region called Hebes Chasma at its closest approach.

The colour and stereo capabilities of CaSSIS were also successfully tested. The stereo pair was obtained from within the Noctis Labyrinthus region. This first analysis shows one of the steep-sided slopes characteristic of the region. The test of colour was also successful. However, the first pass was over the region with the big volcanoes. The surfaces are covered with dust so there are few colour changes evident.In the next months, the team will be starting preparations for the prime mission.