Two Craters

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Caption:

Released 6 October 2003

Two craters east of the Hellas impact basin dominate the field of view of this THEMIS visible image. The craters are alike in that they have been filled in by a lot of material after they were formed. There is an important difference between them, though. The northern crater in the image has a relatively smooth, flat bottom, and the infilling material looks as if it hasn't been heavily disturbed since it was emplaced. Contrast this with the interior of the second crater. The infilling material has been heavily eroded. Why did these two craters, which are so close together, experience very different erosional histories? This THEMIS image is a great example of how science data sets can sometimes cause more questions than they answer.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -31, Longitude 107.1 East (252.9 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.

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.

Background Info:

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.

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