Radial Erosion

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Caption:

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The ejecta surrounding the crater (off image to the left) in this image has undergone significant erosion by the wind. The wind has stripped the surface features from the ejecta and has started to winnow away the ejecta blanket. Near the margin of the ejecta the wind is eroding along a radial pattern -- taking advantage of radial emplacement. Note the steep margin of the ejecta blanket. Most, if not all, of the fine ejecta material has been removed and the wind in now working on the more massive continuous ejecta blanket.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 12.5, Longitude 197.4 East (162.6 West). 37 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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