NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Promethei Terra

Image Context:


Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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The THEMIS Image of the Day will be exploring the nomenclature of Mars for the next three weeks.

A Flash-based interactive viewer is available for this image.

Promethei Terra

• Terra: extensive land mass
• Promethei: Prometheus was the Titan that stole fire

  from Zeus and gave it to man. For this crime,

  Prometheus was chained to a rock and an eagle

  ate his liver anew everyday.

Promethei Terra is part of the southern highlands of Mars. This

daytime IR mosaic shows the cratered terrain that is typical

of this region.

Nomenclature Fact of the Day: Large craters on Mars are named for

scientists who have contributed to the study of Mars, and

writers and others who have contributed to the lore of Mars. (As an example: the large crater at the bottom of this image is Redi Crater, named for Francesco Redi, an Italian physicist.)

[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