Mars Thermal Inertia
This image shows the global thermal inertia of the Martian surface
as measured by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on
the Mars Global Surveyor. The data were acquired during the first 5000
orbits of the MGS mapping mission. The pattern of inertia variations
observed by TES agrees well with the thermal inertia maps made by the
Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper experiment, but the TES data shown
here are at significantly higher spatial resolution (15 km versus 60 km).
The TES instrument was built by Santa Barbara Remote Sensing
and is operated by Philip R. Christensen, of Arizona State University,
Tempe, AZ.
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