MSIP: Elysium Mons Crater

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.
NOTE: The above caption was written by the MSIP team that targeted this image. There has been no editing of content by ASU. 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.