NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Dust and Sand Mixing

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Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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The bright and dark tones observed in this THEMIS image of part of an unnamed impact crater (85 km in diameter) near the larger impact crater Schiaparelli are due to variable amounts of bright dust and dark sand covering the surface. Wind Shadows observed around small impact craters at the top of the image and small grooves and ripple-like marks observed throughout the scene illustrate dynamic and continued aeolian processes on Mars.

[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