Margaritifer Chaos

Today's VIS image shows a small section on Margaritifer Chaos. The term chaos is applied to regions where the surface is being eroded to form mesas. As the surface processes continue individual mesas become more isolated and take on the appearance of regions of hills. At the top of the image is Margaritifer Terra, which is being dissected into large mesas. Towards the bottom of the image the mesas have been eroded into smaller hills.

Orbit Number: 89010 Latitude: -7.22948 Longitude: 336.24 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-01-07 09:17

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.