Status Report

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Frosted Crater

By SpaceRef Editor

August 2, 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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This image, located near 70.6 N and 102.95 E, displays a frosted crater in the
Martian northern hemisphere. This image was taken during the northern spring as
the CO2 ice cap starts to sublimate and recede. Exposures of the underlying
surface are prominent around topographic features because of the exposure they
provide. Features that are more exposed to the relatively warm air will be
sublimated away more quickly. South facing slopes in the northern hemisphere
are also exposed to more sunlight, which also helps to sublimate the frost.
This is why the north rim of the large crater has more exposures of the
relativley dark underlying material than the southern (north facing) wall.
There are also what appears to be small slides of material on the crater walls.
This may be sand that becomes unstable as the frost cover thins.

[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