Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection
Title:
Global Map of Epithermal Neutrons
Original Caption Released with Image:
Observations by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft show a global view of Mars in intermediate-energy, or epithermal, neutrons. Soil enriched by hydrogen is indicated by the deep blue colors on the map, which show a low intensity of epithermal neutrons. Progressively smaller amounts of hydrogen are shown in the colors light blue, green, yellow and red. The deep blue areas in the polar regions are believed to contain up to 50 percent water ice in the upper one meter (three feet) of the soil. Hydrogen in the far north is hidden at this time beneath a layer of carbon dioxide frost (dry ice). Light blue regions near the equator contain slightly enhanced near-surface hydrogen, which is most likely chemically or physically bound because water ice is not stable near the equator. The view shown here is a map of measurements made during the first three months of mapping using the neutron spectrometer instrument, part of the gamma ray spectrometer instrument suite. The central meridian in this projection is zero degrees longitude. Topographic features are superimposed on the map for geographic reference.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson, and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. The gamma-ray spectrometer was provided by the University of Arizona in collaboration with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, which provided the high-energy neutron detector, and the Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico, which provided the neutron spectrometer. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the 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.
Addition Date:
2002-05-28
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/Los Alamos National Laboratories
Produced By:
University of Arizona
Mission:
2001 Mars Odyssey
Spacecraft:
2001 Mars Odyssey
Target Name:
Mars
Is a satellite of:
Sol (our sun)
Instrument:
Gamma Ray Spectrometer Suite
Product Size:
2668 samples x 1371 lines
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
Polar
facet_what:
Spectrometer
facet_what:
Mars
facet_what:
Meridian
facet_what:
2001 Mars Odyssey
facet_what:
Gamma Ray Spectrometer Suite
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
Denver
facet_where:
Mars
facet_where:
Arizona
facet_where:
California
facet_where:
Washington
facet_where:
New Mexico
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_where:
Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image #:
PIA03800
UID:
SPD-PHOTJ-PIA03800
orignial url:

Global Map of Epithermal Neutrons