[meteorite-list] Camera on NASA Mars Odyssey Tops Decade of Discovery

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:56:06 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201202292256.q1TMu6Yr019106_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-053

Camera on NASA Mars Odyssey Tops Decade of Discovery
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
February 29, 2012

Ten years ago, on Feb. 19, 2002, the Thermal Emission Imaging System
(THEMIS), a multi-band camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, began
scientific operations at the Red Planet. Since then the camera has
circled Mars nearly 45,000 times and taken more than half a million
images at infrared and visible wavelengths.

"THEMIS has proven itself a workhorse," said Philip Christensen of
Arizona State University, Tempe, the camera's principal investigator and
designer. "It's especially gratifying to me to see the range of
discoveries that have been made using this instrument."

Highlights of science results by THEMIS over the past 10 years include:

-- Confirming a mineral exposure selected as the landing site for NASA's
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity
-- Discovering carbon-dioxide gas jets at the south polar ice cap in spring
-- Discovering chloride salt deposits across the planet
-- Making the best global image map of Mars ever done
-- Identifying safe landing sites landing sites for NASA's Mars Phoenix
lander by finding the locations with the fewest hazardous boulders
-- Monitoring dust activity in the Martian atmosphere
-- Discovering that a large crater, Aram Chaos, once contained a lake
-- Discovering that Mars has more water-carved channels than previously
thought
-- Discovering dacite on Mars, a more evolved form of volcanic lava not
previously known on the Red Planet

THEMIS combines a five-wavelength visual imaging system with a
nine-wavelength infrared imaging system. By comparing daytime and
nighttime infrared images of an area, scientists can determine many of
the physical properties of the rocks and soils on the ground.

Mars Odyssey has a two-hour orbit that is nearly "sun-synchronous,"
meaning that Odyssey passes over the same part of Mars at roughly the
same local time each day. In September 2008 its orbit was shifted toward
an earlier time of day, which enhanced THEMIS' mineralogical detection
capability.

Says Christensen, "Both Odyssey and THEMIS are in excellent health and
we look forward to years more science with them."

NASA launched the Mars Odyssey spacecraft April 7, 2001. Odyssey arrived
at Mars Oct. 24, 2001. After arrival the spacecraft spent several months
in a technique called aerobraking, which involved dipping into the
Martian atmosphere to adjust its orbit. In February 2002, science
operations began.

Odyssey is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space
Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. JPL and Lockheed Martin
collaborate on operating the spacecraft. For more about the Mars Odyssey
mission, visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey . For more about
THEMIS, see http://themis.asu.edu/ . JPL is a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Robert Burnham 480-458-8207
Arizona State University School of Earth and Space Exploration, Tempe
robert.burnham at asu.edu

Guy Webster 818-687-7708
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2012-053
Received on Wed 29 Feb 2012 05:56:06 PM PST