Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Crater Deformation

Image Context:


Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
[ Find on map: Javascript version ]

[ Find on map: CGI version ]

This crater is located at 37 N, a latitude far enough north that ground ice is present, and
it sculpts the terrain when it moves. In this image, the western rim of the crater has been
deformed from its original, presumably circular, shape. Note, however, that lobes of material
and grooves (seen best at full resolution) in the crater’s ejecta blanket are still pristine:
perhaps ground ice moves the most on steep topography, such as on a crater rim.

[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University