Released 20 April 2004

The image of a crater near Elysium Mons was captured from the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft, at 16:47 Mars Local Time, on November 23, 2002. The image is 18km x 54km, Lat. 21.6N, Long. 137.21E, Sun Angle of 64.13 degrees, 6,746.4 seconds into orbit, and with a camera filter centered at about 650nm.

The Westview Astronomy Research Team is a group of 25 students from Westview High School who wrote a scientific proposal to NASA, JPL, and Arizona State University Mars Flight Research Facility. The proposal was accepted and we worked for several months researching the background of exploration for water and life on the planet Mars. The team conducted trial experiments involving rock propulsion and several activities identifying surface features on Mars. We worked with Mars scientists to target and upload an image from the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft. The image was successfully acquired and viewed for the first time ever by our team. The image was dedicated to Westview High School in the name MSIP.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 18.1, Longitude 136.3 East (223.7 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.

NASA and Arizona State University's Mars Education Program is offering students nationwide the opportunity to be involved in authentic Mars research by participating in the Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP). Teams of students in grades 5 through college sophomore level have the opportunity to work with scientists, mission planners and educators on the THEMIS team at ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility, to image a site on Mars using the THEMIS visible wavelength camera. For more information go to the MSIP website: http://msip.asu.edu.

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.