Context image for PIA09465
Landslides
The two craters in this image are not circular, but instead are more
diamond-shaped. Meteor Crater in Arizona is also more square than round.
Meteor Crater formed in a limestone rock that had already been faulted in
two directions. The preexisting faults controlled some of the stress
induced by the impacting event, resulting in the crater not ending up
perfectly round. The same thing likely occurred with the formation of the
martian craters -- a preexisting fault or fracture system in the rocks.
Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -12.6N, Longitude 262.9E.
17 meter/pixel resolution.
Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.
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.