Context image for PIA09988
Verde Vallis
The major Martian dust storm of 2007 filled the sky with dust and produced
conditions that prevented the THEMIS VIS camera from being able to image
the surface. With no new images being acquired, we've dug into the archive
to highlight some interesting areas on Mars. The this week's topic is medium
sized channels. Verde Vallis has a realitively uniform width, but erosion of
the walls has reduced the channel depth and makes the valley indistinct from
its surroundings in some areas.
Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -1.0N, Longitude 30.1E.
18 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.