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On the left side of today's VIS image is the Jezero Crater delta deposit. This feature was created by the flow from the rim channel into the crater. Deltas form when sediments settle out due to a decrease in speed of a river system. Deltas often form where large rivers flow into the ocean, like the Mississippi and Nile deltas. This can also occur where rivers flow into large lakes, such as the Great Salt Lake and Lake St. Clair river deltas. It is believed that the Jezero Crater delta formed this way. Jezero Crater is the home of the Mars 2020 rover – Perseverance – and its little helicopter buddy – Ingenuity. The Mars 2020 mission is focused on the delta, and the information it holds about a time when Mars was much wetter.

Orbit Number: 95046 Latitude: 18.449 Longitude: 77.436 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-05-19 09:28

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.