Rugged Crater Floor

Today's VIS image shows part of an unnamed crater located in Noachis Terra. Unlike most Martian craters, this one has a very rugged floor. Most craters have flat floors, having been filled with materials such as sand blown into the crater, layered deposits from short term lakes, and volcanic materials from nearby flows. The morphology of the crater floor indicates that this is a relatively young crater, with the original floor created during the impact event.

Orbit Number: 93133 Latitude: -41.7607 Longitude: 16.3316 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-12-12 20:18

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.