NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Dust Devils

Image Context:


Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
[ Find on map: Javascript version ]

[ Find on map: CGI version ]

Abundant dust devil tracks dominate the scene in this THEMIS visible
image. The dark streaks across much of the surface are formed when dust devils
sweep up the dust and reveal the darker underlying terrain. Notice how the
dust devil tracks are continuous over changes in topography (e.g. crater
rims) and how the lengths and thicknesses of the tracks vary. This indicates
that the dust devils vary in their size and duration.

[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