Incredible photos show Mars' picture-perfect 'blue sky' - but there's a catch

A robot has snapped an image of the Red Planet with a blue sky. The imaging team of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took advantage of clear skies recently to capture one of the sharpest panoramas of its mission so far.

Visible in the mosaic, which was stitched together from 96 images taken at a location the science team calls Falbreen, are a rock that appears to lie on top of a sand ripple, a boundary line between two geologic units, and hills as distant as 40 miles (65 kilometres) away. However, the space scientists say Mars isn't suddenly an ideal destination for a vacation as the blue sky is due to image processing carried out to better study the Martian terrain to prepare for future space travel.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said: "The enhanced-colour version shows the Martian sky to be remarkably clear and deceptively blue, while in the natural-colour version, it's reddish."

Jim Bell, Mastcam-Z's principal investigator at Arizona State University in Tempe, added: "The relatively dust-free skies provide a clear view of the surrounding terrain. And in this particular mosaic, we have enhanced the colour contrast, which accentuates the differences in the terrain and sky."

Sean Duffy, acting NASA administrator, said: "Our bold push for human space exploration will send astronauts back to the Moon.

"Stunning vistas like that of Falbreen, captured by our Perseverance rover, are just a glimpse of what we'll soon witness with our own eyes.

"NASA's groundbreaking missions, starting with Artemis, will propel our unstoppable journey to take human space exploration to the Martian surface. NASA is continuing to get bolder and stronger."

The rover's Mastcam-Z instrument captured the images on May 26, the 1,516th Martian day, or sol, of Perseverance's mission, which began in February 2021 on the floor of Jezero Crater.