Candor Chasma on Mars, in Color
This image from the camera system on NASA's Mars Odyssey was
acquired of Candor Chasma within Valles Marineris, centered near 5
degrees south latitude, 283 degrees west longitude. This visible color
image shows the effects of erosion on a sequence of dramatically layered
rocks. These layers were initially deposited within Candor Chasma and
have subsequently been eroded by a variety of processes, including wind
and down-slope motion due to gravity. Relatively dark materials appear to
mantle some areas of the layered deposits; these dark materials are likely
sand. Few impact craters of any size can be seen in this image, indicating
that the erosion and transport of material is occurring at a relatively rapid
rate, so that any craters that form are rapidly buried or eroded. This image
was acquired using the thermal infrared imaging system's visible bands 1
(centered at 420 nanometers), 2 (centered at 550 nanometers), and 3
(centered at 650 nanometers), and covers an area approximately 19
kilometers (12 miles) in width by 50 kilometers (50 miles) in length.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for
NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C. Investigators at Arizona
State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's
Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. Additional
science partners are located at the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and
at Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico. Lockheed Martin
Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed
and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from
Lockheed Martin and from JPL.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University/Cornell University.
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