Released August 13, 2004

The THEMIS Image of the Day will be exploring the nomenclature of Mars for the next three weeks.

Promethei Terra

• Terra: extensive land mass
• Promethei: Prometheus was the Titan that stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man. For this crime, Prometheus was chained to a rock and an eagle ate his liver anew everyday.

Promethei Terra is part of the southern highlands of Mars. This daytime IR mosaic shows the cratered terrain that is typical of this region.

Nomenclature Fact of the Day: Large craters on Mars are named for scientists who have contributed to the study of Mars, and writers and others who have contributed to the lore of Mars. (As an example: the large crater at the bottom of this image is Redi Crater, named for Francesco Redi, an Italian physicist.)

Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -52, Longitude 95.2 East (264.8 West). 100 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.