Mars image marks THEMIS milestone (Forwarded)
- From: Andrew Yee <ayee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 04:35:16 GMT
Media Relations
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona
Contact:
Robert Burnham, (480) 458-8207
May 14, 2007
Mars image marks THEMIS milestone
The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey
orbiter marked a milestone May 4. An image from THEMIS showing Martian
lava flows and wind streaks mingling with impact craters, became the
1,200th "Image of the Day" posted online at
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20070504a
The Mars Space Flight Facility at ASU operates the site, which is updated
every weekday with images and data from THEMIS. The first "Image of the
Day" was posted March 27, 2002.
"We usually select the 'Image of the Day' to show the wide variety of
surface features present on Mars," says Kelly Bender, THEMIS mission
planner. "Some images, however, are chosen purely for their aesthetic
value."
THEMIS is a multiple-wavelength camera that photographs the Martian
surface in five visual and 10 infrared bands. At infrared wavelengths, the
smallest details it records are 330 feet (100 meters) wide, while at
visual wavelengths -- as seen in the image -- the smallest details are 60
feet (18 meters) wide.
Image of the day No. 1,200 shows a strip of ground on Mars that measures
11 miles (18 kilometers) wide by 39 miles (63 kilometers) long.
"We're looking at the Daedalia Planum region, part of the large volcanic
province of Tharsis," Bender says. "The lava flows came from the Arsia
Mons volcano. Its summit lies about 300 miles, or 500 kilometers, beyond
the image frame to the right. The rough textured lava surface traps dust
and sand, while the impact craters act as obstacles to the wind."
She notes that the combination of readily available dust and turbulent
winds passing the craters creates the bright and dark "tails" extending
the west (left) of the craters.
"These wind streaks indicate the direction the wind was blowing -- east to
west in this case," she says.
"From the very beginning of the THEMIS project, I wanted to bring Mars
alive for everyone," says Philip Christensen, Regents' Professor of
geological sciences in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, part of
ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "One of the most enjoyable
ways has been to post a new image each day of the mission with a brief
description of what we think we are looking at."
Christensen is the director of the Mars Space Flight Facility, and both
designer and principal investigator for the THEMIS instrument.
"Many features we see in these images remain a mystery," he says. "More
often than not, we scratch our heads and mutter, 'Wow, what's that?' But
that's the fun of exploring Mars, and hopefully those who follow the
mission through our images can share in the experience of looking at the
unknown for the first time."
THEMIS images are available at http://themis-data.asu.edu/ , which lets
users search for images by designation or using a map of Mars. Each image
is accompanied by data on when the image was taken, where the spacecraft
was pointing, the resolution of the image, the local time and so on.
Images can be downloaded in PNG, JPEG, GIF or TIFF formats. Image of the
day No. 1,200 carries the identification designation V23407003.
Mars Odyssey was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on
April 7, 2001, and arrived at Mars on Oct. 24, 2001. The orbiter spent the
next several months achieving a circular mapping orbit by aerobraking
(dipping into the atmosphere to slow and shrink the orbit). Aerobraking
concluded in early February 2002, and primary mapping operations began a
few weeks later.
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