Released 10 December 2003

Remarkable layered deposits covering older, cratered surfaces near Mars' south pole dominate this mosaic of images taken by the camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft between Nov. 8 and Nov. 26, 2003. The margin of these layered deposits appears to be eroding poleward, exposing a series of layers in the retreating cliff.

The mosaic, stitched from eight visible-wavelength images from Odyssey's thermal emission imaging system, covers an area more than 325 kilometers (200 miles) long and 100 kilometers (62 miles) wide. The pictured area lies between 78 degrees and 82 degrees south latitude and between 90 degrees and 104 degrees east longitude.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -80, Longitude 97 East (263 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, 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.