From High to Low

Today's VIS image is located on the margin of the Terra Sabaea highlands and the Nilosyrtis Mensae lowlands. The drop off is very steep - about 18,000 ft. This "edge" circles the northern hemisphere of Mars and is called the crustal dichotomy. The process that created this dichotomy is unknown. In the transition region, the highlands break up into mesas and valleys, like those seen in this image.

Orbit Number: 77302 Latitude: 34.8294 Longitude: 59.9418 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-05-19 08:38

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, 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.