NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Koga Crater

Image Context:


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

[ Find on map: CGI version ]

This image shows Koga crater, named for a town in Tanzania. It is located in a
region called Claritas Fossae, full of large linear features that are not visible in
this particular image. What is visible is a mantle of fine material that is draped
over much of the terrain, particularly in the floor of the crater. Note how the
low-lying surfaces are smooth and dark, covered in this layer of fine material.
Sharp blocks and cliffs poke through this mantle, showing that either the mantle
never buried all of the underlying topography, or that some of it has eroded away
to expose the higher ground.

[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