The Odyssey spacecraft has taken some great pictures of Valles Marineris,
the largest canyon in the solar system. If this canyon were on Earth, it
would stretch from New York to Los Angeles. For the next several weeks,
the Image of the Day will tour some of the canyons that make up this vast
system. We will start with Ius Chasma in the west, and end with Coprates
Chasma to the east. For more information on Vallis Marineris, please see
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mep/science/vm.html.
This image shows an area in Candor Chasma. Layered surfaces and wind
etched surfaces are present in this area.
Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -5.3, Longitude 283.2 East
(76.8 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.
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.
