Dr. Phil Varghese

Taken on April 24, 2019, this rainbow-colored image shows the Martian moon Phobos, as viewed by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter using its infrared camera, THEMIS. Each color represents a different...

Interact with this 3D model of Mars Odyssey.

First THEMIS Image of Mars

Around 200 kilometers long, Ravi Vallis was born in a flood of water from Aromatum Chaos.

If a meteorite breaks in two shortly before hitting the ground, the typical bowl shape of a single impact crater becomes doubled.

These three views of the Martian moon Phobos were taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter using its infrared camera, THEMIS. Each color represents a different temperature range.

Download a PDF of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Launch Press Kit.

This artist's animation shows how orbiters over Mars will monitor the landing of NASA's Curiosity rover. (No audio)

Getting to Mars is difficult enough -- staying there is even more challenging. Odyssey met up with Mars on October 24 02:26 UTC (October 23: 7:26 p.m. PDT/10:26 p.m.EDT).

Bright blue marks a deposit of chloride (salt) minerals in the southern highlands of Mars in this false-color image, which highlights mineral composition differences.

This unnamed channel drains part of Margaritifer Terra.

This image of Phobos is one product of the first pointing at that Martian moon by the THEMIS camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.  The Sept. 29, 2017, observation also provided information about ...

Geological faulting has opened cracks in the Cerberus region that slice through flat plains and mesas alike.

A sea of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long lines, surrounds the northern polar cap covering an area as big as Texas.

Mars Odyssey Project Manager Gaylon McSmith, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Sand-laden jets shoot into the polar sky in this view by noted space artist Ron Miller.

West of Valles Marineris lies a checkerboard named Noctis Labyrinthus, which formed when the Martian crust stretched and fractured.

This animation shows how NASA's Curiosity rover communicates with Earth via two of NASA's Mars orbiters, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and Odyssey, and the European Space Agency's Mars Express....

Spider Web Pattern

Newly detailed mapping of local variations in Mars' gravitational pull on orbiters (center), combined with topographical mapping of the planet's mountains and valleys (left), yields the best-yet ma...

Dr. Bill Boynton, Principal Investigator for the Gamma Ray Spectrometer suite of instruments Image credit: NASA/JPL

Marte Vallis, located in Amazonis Planitia, is broad and shallow. The streamlined islands at the top and bottom of the image illustrate this.

A false-color mosaic focuses on one junction in Noctis Labyrinthus where Mars canyons meet to form a depression 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) deep.

A large mound of sand and dune forms are located on the floor of an unnamed crater south of Rabe Crater in Noachis Terra.

Women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory pose for a photo in mission control in honor of Women in Science Day.