Status Report

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Reull Vallis

By SpaceRef Editor

September 10, 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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The channels and impact crater rim shown in this THEMIS image provide insight to the forces that have sculpted the surface within the extensive Reull Vallis network. Drainage features and dissected materials observed around and within the impact crater wall demonstrate the erosional and depositional effects of possible fluvial processes. A portion of a possible landslide is also observed within the crater as lobes of material emanate from the crater wall. Reull Vallis is a large and morphologically diverse outflow channel system, and this small view from within demonstrates the combination of mass movement processes that have persisted over an extended time period.

[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