NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Sand and Water

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Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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This image shows a relatively small crater (~35 km across) in the heavily
cratered terrain of the southern highlands. At the midlatitudes, this area is
known both for its water-formed gullies and its sand dunes. This crater shows
spectacular examples of both. In fact, the gullies running down the northern
edge of the crater made it to the cover of Science magazine on June 30, 2000.
The large dark spot in the floor of the crater is sand that has accumulated into
one large dune with a single curvilinear crest.

[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