PIA16976: Images of Gale #23


Images of Gale #23

Caption:

Context image for PIA16976
Context image

During the month of April Mars will be in conjunction relative to the Earth. This means the Sun is in the line-of-sight between Earth and Mars, and communication between the two planets is almost impossible. For conjunction, the rovers and orbiting spacecraft at Mars continue to operate, but do not send the data to Earth. This recorded data will be sent to Earth when Mars moves away from the sun and the line-of-sight between Earth and Mars is reestablished. During conjunction the THEMIS image of the day will be a visual tour of Gale Crater, the location of the newest rover Curiosity.

This image shows the southwestern floor of Gale Crater. A fairly large channel that dissects the crater rim is visible entering from the bottom of the frame and continuing northward.

Orbit Number: 34877 Latitude: -5.2813 Longitude: 137.111 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2009-10-25 01:17

Background Info:

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, 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.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission 2001 Mars Odyssey Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Instrument Host Mars Odyssey Curiosity Rover
Host Type Orbiter Rover
Instrument Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Crater, Grayscale, Thermal
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2013-05-06
Date in Caption 2009-10-25
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16976
Identifier PIA16976