Status Report

NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS IMage: Valles Marineris Graben

By SpaceRef Editor

March 28, 2005

Filed under Daily Themis Pictures, Mars, Mars Odyssey THEMIS, US

Image Context:

Context image for 20050328a

Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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Parameter	Value		Parameter	Value
Latitude	-14.1	&nbsp	Instrument	VIS
Longitude	287.2E (72.8W)	&nbsp	Resolution (m)	19
Image Size (pixels)	3070×1359	&nbsp	Image Size (km)	58.3×25.8

Full data on this image has now been released via the THEMIS Data Releases website.

This VIS image was taken just south of the rim of Valles

Marineris. The troughs seen in this image are structural

features called graben. A graben is formed when two parallel

fractures bound a down-dropped block of surface. These

graben developed as part of the formation of Valles

Marineris.

[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

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

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