PIA21003: Polar Textures


Polar Textures

Caption:

Context image for PIA21003
Context image

This VIS image of the South Polar cap shows several different surface textures. It appears that the circular depressions (which look like swiss cheese) alter with time, appearing to lose the circular shape as the intervening walls of ice are removed.

Orbit Number: 65187 Latitude: -87.0386 Longitude: 276.053 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-08-24 07:47

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
Instrument Host Mars Odyssey
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Grayscale, Thermal
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2016-10-04
Date in Caption 2016-08-24
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21003
Identifier PIA21003