NASA has released a “rare postcard” from Mars after being inspired by a “remarkable” image that its rover sent back from the red planet.

The US space agency was able to combine two black and white images of the landscape taken at different times of the day and then added colours.

The pictures were from Curiosity while it was high up on Mount Sharp, a three-mile-tall (5km) mountain which the robotic vehicle has been driving up since 2014.

The artistic interpretation of Curiosity’s view features rolling hills in the distance, while a field of sand ripples known as the “Sands of Forvie” stretches a quarter to a half-mile away.

The rover typically takes 360-degree photos of its surroundings as part of its duties whilst roaming Mars.

Low quality images from the black and white navigation cameras are then compressed and sent to Earth, but the latest image was too unique to only be viewed in low resolution.

Members of the mission team were stunned by the image and worked to capture the scenery in the highest quality possible.

NASA prepares to deflect asteroid for first time in planetary defence test

International Space Station crew endangered by space junk from ‘reckless’ Russian weapons test

International Space Station astronauts forced to take cover over ‘space junk’ collision fears

The team was able to add colours to it, introducing blues, oranges and greens to the landscape.

This is not what the human eye would see, but the image is a representation of the scenery at different period of the day.

On 16 November, engineers ordered the rover to capture two images – one at 8.30am and other at 4.10pm.

These images were able to show the scenery under different lighting conditions with each photo highlighting various details in the landscape.

The two images were then combined creating a singular picture that featured blue elements from the morning and oranges from the photo later in the day.

Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Rafael Navarro Mountain, named after a Curiosity team scientist who died earlier this year, can be seen on the far right and the centre of the image features the view back down Mount Sharp.

Mount Sharp lies inside Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide (154km) basin formed by an ancient impact.

Gale Crater’s distant rim is 7,500ft tall (2.3km) and is visible on the horizon about 18 to 25 miles away.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been leading the Curiosity mission and is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California.

Related posts:

Test and Trace ‘barely used’ check-in data from pubs and restaurants – with thousands not warned of infection risk NASA: We think we’ve solved the mystery of ‘zodiac light’ Plan for NHS to collect patient data from GPs should be delayed over privacy fears, says Labour Millions of dollars in Bitcoin ransom seized from Colonial Pipeline hackers Elon Musk says he ‘rather hates’ being CEO of Tesla Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine effectiveness wanes to 47% against COVID-19 infection after six months Hackers could have stolen beer from BrewDog using bug that exposed details of 200,000 shareholders Apple shares tumble as iPhone 13 production reportedly slashed ‘I was prepared to accept either outcome’: Musk’s Twitter poll tells him to sell 10% of Tesla stock Facebook’s Meta to ban adverts that target people on ‘sensitive topics’ politics, race and sexual orientation Peloton cuts 2,800 jobs with even the boss told to get on his bike as sales crash Foreign Office was targeted by ‘serious cyber security incident’