NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: South Polar Cap 03-08-2004

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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 four

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; and

4) volcanic flow features. 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 image was collected March 5, 2002 during the southern summer season.

Layering in the South polar cap interior is readily visible

and may indicate yearly ice/dust deposition.

[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