Status Report

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Pandora Fretum Crater (Released 26 July 2002)

By SpaceRef Editor
July 28, 2002
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Medium image for 20020726a

Image Context:
Context image for 20020726a
Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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Another in a series of craters with unusual interior deposits, this
THEMIS image shows an unnamed crater in the southern hemisphere Pandora
Fretum region near the Hellas Basin. Craters with eroded layered
deposits are quite common on Mars but the crusty textured domes in the
center of the image make this crater more unusual. Looking vaguely like
granitic intrusions, there erosional style is distinct from the rest of
the interior deposit which shows a very obvious layered morphology.
While it is unlikely that the domes are granite plutons, it is possible
that they do represent some other shallowly emplaced magmatic
intrusion. More likely still is that variations in induration of the
layered deposit allow for variations in the erosional morphology. Note
how the surface of the crater floor in the northernmost portion of the
image has a texture similar to that of the domes. This may represent an
incipient form of the erosion that has produced the domes but has not
progressed as far. An analysis of other craters in the area may shed
light on the origin of the domes.

[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



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ParameterValue ParameterValue
Latitude-34.6 &nbsp InstrumentVIS
Longitude316.8W (43.2E) &nbsp Resolution (m)19
Image Size (pixels)3061×1199 &nbsp Image Size (km)58.2×22.8

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