NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Gusev Crater, here we come! 01-03-2004

Image Context:


Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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This evening at approximately 8:35 PST the Mars Exploration Rover named

Spirit will bounce to

the ground somewhere in this scene. The image is composed of nine

THEMIS VIS frames that have been mosaicked together, producing a

complete picture of the region in which the rover is predicted to land.

The dark streaks are places where wind has either scoured off the

brighter martian dust or has covered it up by sand. Note the

interesting lobes of material evident along the right side of the image

just below the large crater. These may be due to the emplacement of

water rich sediments or possibly lava flows. It is hoped that Spirit

and all of its instruments will help us to understand the rich geologic

history that is on display in this image. The biggest question to be

answered: was Gusev Crater filled with water sometime in its ancient

past? Stay tuned…

Mosaic produced by Noel Gorelick, ASU/THEMIS Team.

[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