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This VIS image shows part of Hephaestus Fossae. Hephaestus Fossae is a complex channel system in Utopia Planitia near Elysium Mons. It has been proposed that the channel formed by the release of melted subsurface ice during the impact event that created the crater just off the left side of the image – only the ejecta is seen in this image. The crater is fairly young, as there is only minimal modification of the crater floor. While it appears that the crater sits of top of the channel, the creation of the crater may have also created the channel. The impact event would have caused subsurface heating, melting any subsurface ice in the region which would have created surface flow to form the channel. Additionally, the nearby Elysium volcanic center created subsurface heating that may have played a part in creating both Hephaestus Fossae and Hebrus Valles to the north.

Orbit Number: 94645 Latitude: 17.6141 Longitude: 126.055 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-04-16 09:02

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, 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.