Status Report

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Floor of Hellas Basin

By SpaceRef Editor

September 27, 2002

Filed under Daily Themis Pictures, Mars Odyssey THEMIS, US

Image Context:

Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team

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With a diameter of roughly 2000 km and a depth of over 7 km, the Hellas
Basin is the largest impact feature on Mars. Because of its great
depth, there is significantly more atmosphere to peer through in order
to see its floor, reducing the quality of the images taken from orbit.
This THEMIS image straddles a scarp between the Hellas floor and an
accumulation of material at least a half kilometer thick that covers
much of the floor. The southern half of the image contains some of this
material. Strange ovoid landforms are present here that give the
appearance of flow. It is likely that water ice or even liquid water is
present in the deposits and is somehow responsible for the observed
landscape. The floor of Hellas remains a poorly understood portion of
the planet that should benefit from the analysis of new THEMIS data.

[Questions? Email images@themis.asu.edu]

[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

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