NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Complex Crater

Image Context:


Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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The crater in today’s image is larger and more complex

than the craters in yesterday’s image. In large craters, the

simple bowl shape is modified during crater formation. Flat

floors, central peaks, and in this case, central pits are formed

by rebound and heating of the impacted surface. Crater rims

collapse due to gravity forming step-like slump blocks on the

interior side of the rim. This crater also appears to be

shedding material from the rims onto the crater floor in the

form of fans and landslides. Finally, the presence of dunes

in the lower left part of the crater indicates that wind activity

has played a part in modifying this crater interior.

[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