NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Infrared of Meroe Patera Flows

Image Context:


Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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The Odyssey spacecraft has completed a full Mars year of observations of the red planet. For the next several weeks the Image of the Day will look back over this first mars year. It will focus on five themes: 1) the poles – with the seasonal changes seen in the retreat and expansion of the caps; 2) craters – with a variety of morphologies relating to impact materials and later alteration, both infilling and exhumation; 3) channels – the clues to liquid surface flow; 4) volcanic flow features; and 5) dunes. While some images have helped answer questions about the history of Mars, many have raised new questions that are still being investigated as Odyssey continues collecting data as it orbits Mars.

This daytime infrared image was collected Jan. 23, 2003 during

northern summer. The old volcanic flows from Meroe Patera are

recognizable only by the flow fronts (rounded lobes). Dust and

erosion have covered or removed the rough lava surface seen

in yesterday’s image.

[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