Status Report

NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Hydraotes Chaos 08-18-2004

By SpaceRef Editor
August 18, 2004
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Medium image for 20040818A



Image Context:

Context image for 20040818A
Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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ParameterValue ParameterValue
Latitude0.4 &nbsp InstrumentVIS
Longitude324.8E (35.2W) &nbsp Resolution (m)19
Image Size (pixels)3058×1403 &nbsp Image Size (km)58.1×26.7


Full data on this image has now been released via the THEMIS Data Releases website.



The THEMIS Image of the Day will be exploring the nomenclature of Mars for the next three weeks.

Hydraotes Chaos

  • Chaos: distinctive area of broken terrain
  • Hydraotes: Alexander the Great attacked the Mallains

    on the banks of the Hydraotes River (today’s

    Ravi River) during his conquest of India.

Hydraotes Chaos is typical of chaos regions on Mars. Note

the break up of the plateau into smaller mesas separated

by deep valleys. In some chaos, the mesas also seem

to get fractured into smaller and smaller segments.

Nomenclature Fact of the Day: A person must be deceased for at

least three years before his/her name can be used for

a planetary feature.


[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]


Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.


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


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