21-June-2006, 06:15 PM
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Vulcan Administrator
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Greenbelt, MD
Posts: 26,043
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Mars, After Dark: Odyssey Spacecraft Paints a Vivid Portrait
Mars, After Dark: Odyssey Spacecraft Paints a Vivid Portrait
Quote:
Scientists now have the ability to contrast day/night Mars imagery to bring to light the red planet as never before.
NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft has been orbiting that distant planet since October 2001. Among a set of onboard instruments is the Thermal Emission Imaging System—or THEMIS for short. This special multi-wavelength camera has 5 visual bands and 10 infrared bands. Its main tasks are mapping rock makeup and detecting heat, which yields information on the physical and thermal properties of the martian surface.
After years of flying above Mars, Odyssey’s THEMIS is providing researchers a daytime/nighttime look at that globe—with surprises likely in the offing.
This ability could well lead to spotting hot spots—Yellowstone-like locales on Mars. Toss in a splash of subsurface water and you may have cozy cubbyholes for microbial life.
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