Hematite Outlier and Sand Dunes

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Caption:

Released 4 December 2003

This image shows a crater just south of the edge of the famous hematite-bearing surface, which is visible in the context image as a smooth area to the north. The crater has two features of immediate note. The first is a layered mound in the north part of the crater floor. This mound contains hematite, and it is an outlying remnant of the greater deposits to the north that have otherwise completely disappeared in this crater. The second feature is a dune field in the center of the crater floor, with dark dunes indicating winds from the northwest. The dunes grade into a dark sand sheet with no coherent structure, indicating that the sand layer thins out to the south and east.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -4.4°, Longitude 357.3° East (2.7%deg; 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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