Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Valles Marineris

Image Context:


Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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3D Projection onto MOLA data

Projection image credit: NASA/JPL/ASU/MOLA

The top half of this THEMIS visible image shows interior layered
deposits that have long been recognized in Valles Marineris. Upon close
examination, the layers appear to be eroding differently, indicating
different levels of competency. This, in turn, may be interpreted to
indicate different materials, and/or depositional processes. At the
bottom of the image, materials eroded from the walls of the canyon form
dunes and other aeolian bedforms.

[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