Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Kasei Valles 05-21-2003

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Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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Just a small part of the huge Kasei Valles outflow channel is shown in this
THEMIS visible image. Still, the awesome erosive power of the water that once
flowed through this channel is evident. The different erosional levels of
the channel indicat that it is likely that water flowed at several levels for
some time. Today the area is covered by a layer of fine martian dust. The
dark streaks seen on the cliff faces are the result of dust avalanches which
have exposed the underlying rock.

[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