The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Windstreaks (Released 30 August 2010)
  The windstreaks in this VIS image are located on lava flows from Arsia Mons.
• Olympus Mons Flows (Released 31 August 2010)
  Many surface lava flows on the flanks of Olympus Mons are confined to narrow channels, like the ones in today's VIS image.
• Dust Devil Tracks (Released 1 September 2010)
  The dark lines in this VIS image are the tracks of dust devils in this region of Arcadia Plainitia.
• Tinto Vallis (Released 2 September 2010)
  The wide channel in this VIS image is Tinto Vallis.
• Moreaux Crater Dunes (Released 3 September 2010)
  This VIS image shows some of the dunes located on the floor of Moreaux Crater.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Arsia Mons (Released 23 August 2010)
  This VIS image of the northern flank of Arsia Mons shows collapse/vent features.
• Zephyria Planum (Released 24 August 2010)
  The wind etched region in this VIS image is called Zephyria Planum.
• Utopia Planitia (Released 25 August 2010)
  The small channels in this image of Utopia Planitia are south of Granicus Valles.
• Channel (Released 26 August 2010)
  This unnamed channel is west of Flammarion Crater in Terra Sabaea.
• Tempe Terra (Released 27 August 2010)
  Large fractures have formed 'steps' in this region of Tempe Terra.

Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression near Mars's equator, in the eastern hemisphere of the planet. Located between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons, its formation remains a mystery.

Often overlooked, this well-defined depression extends approximately 380 km by 140 km in a NNE-SSW direction. It has a rim that rises up to 1800 m above the surrounding plains, while the floor of the depression lies 400-600 m below the surroundings.

One of the instruments on the 2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will provide daily maps of global, pole-to-pole, vertical distributions of the temperature, dust, water vapor and ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere.

The joint European-American mission will seek faint gaseous clues about possible life on Mars. This instrument, called the ExoMars Climate Sounder, will supply crucial context with its daily profiling of the atmosphere's changing structure.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Polar Dunes (Released 16 August 2010)
  The dunes in this VIS image are near the north polar cap.
• Wind Effects (Released 17 August 2010)
  This wind eroded crater is located between Eumenides and Gordii Dorsa.
• Aram Chaos (Released 18 August 2010)
  The tectonic fractures in this VIS image are part of Aram Chaos.
• Polar Dunes (Released 19 August 2010)
  As northern summer approaches on Mars, dunes near the pole defrost and become darker appearing in VIS images.
• Tempe Terra (Released 20 August 2010)
  Tempe Terra is criss-crossed with numerous fracture systems. This VIS image shows a region where the fractures are intersecting.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Chaos Margin (Released 9 August 2010)
  What appear to be channels in this VIS image is the dissection of the higher elevations on the margin of Chryse Chaos.
• Ganges Chasma (Released 10 August 2010)
  This VIS image shows multiple landslide deposits within Ganges Chasma.
• Streamlined Island (Released 11 August 2010)
  These dark dunes are located on the floor of Danielson Crater in Meridiani Planum.
• Danielson Crater Dunes (Released 12 August 2010)
  These dark dunes are located on the floor of Danielson Crater in Meridiani Planum.
• Windstreaks (Released 13 August 2010)
  This VIS image of part of Meridiani Planum contains windstreaks that formed in several directions around a single crater.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Kasei Valles Dunes (Released 2 August 2010)
  This small group of dunes in located within Kasei Valles.
• North Polar Dunes (Released 3 August 2010)
  Regions of densely coalesced dunes are common around the North Polar cap of Mars.
• Dunes (Released 4 August 2010)
  This dune field is located in an unnamed crater north of Antoniadi and Baldet craters.
• Dunes (Released 5 August 2010)
  A sandsheet with dune forms covers most of the floor of this unnamed crater within Coprates Chasma.
• Cerberus Fossae (Released 6 August 2010)
  One of the tectonic fractures of Cerberus Fossae is visible at the bottom of this VIS image.

ESA and NASA have selected the scientific instruments for their first joint Mars mission. Scheduled for 2016, it will study the chemical makeup of the martian atmosphere, including methane. Discovered in 2003, methane could point to life on the Red Planet.

NASA and ESA have embarked on a joint programme of martian exploration, an unprecedented new alliance for future ventures to Mars. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is the first in a planned series of joint missions leading to the return of a sample from the surface of Mars. Scientists worldwide were invited to propose the spacecraft's instruments.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Dark Slope Streaks (Released 26 July 2010)
  Dark slope streaks mark the rim of this unnamed crater in Terra Sabaea.
• Sand Dunes (Released 27 July 2010)
  Sand dunes cover the floor of this unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria.
• Polar Dunes (Released 28 July 2010)
  In this image of dunes near the north pole of Mars it appears that small individual dunes are coalescing into larger dune forms.
• Tharsis Lava (Released 29 July 2010)
  This VIS image shows are region of lava covered plains east of Olympus Mons.
• Crater in Arabia (Released 30 July 2010)
  A small channel enters this unnamed crater in Arabia Terra.

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has helped develop the most accurate global Martian map ever. Researchers and the public can access the map via several websites and explore and survey the entire surface of the Red Planet.

The map was constructed using nearly 21,000 images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, a multi-band infrared camera on Odyssey. Researchers at Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility in Tempe, in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have been compiling the map since THEMIS observations began eight years ago.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Wind Effects (Released 19 July 2010)
  The region southwest of Olympus Mons is covered with materials that have been eroded by the wind.
• Nili Fossae (Released 20 July 2010)
  Nili Fossae, a series of tectonic fractures, is the low region on the right side of this image.
• Polar Layers (Released 21 July 2010)
  Both polar caps on Mars are composed of many layers of ice and dust.
• Polar Dunes (Released 22 July 2010)
  Sand dunes form large fields, called ergs, around the north polar cap of Mars.
• Dunes (Released 23 July 2010)
  This unnamed crater in the far northern lowlands contains a sand sheet with dune forms on its floor.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Utopia Planitia (Released 12 July 2010)
  This VIS image of Utopia Planitia is covered with the tracks of dust devils.
• Dunes (Released 13 July 2010)
  The dunes in this VIS image are located in an unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria.
• Juventae Chasma (Released 14 July 2010)
  Layering is visible in these deposits on the floor of Juventae Chasma.
• Ganges Chasma (Released 15 July 2010)
  This VIS image shows part of the floor of Ganges Chasma.
• Daedalia Planum (Released 16 July 2010)
  This VIS image of Daedalia Planum shows various lava flows from Arsia Mons.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Ituxi Vallis (Released 5 July 2010)
  Ituxi Vallis is a lava channel located on the eastern side of Elysium Mons.
• Oti Fossae (Released 6 July 2010)
  This VIS image shows lava flows and tectonic features related to the Arsia Mons volcanic system.
• Chryse Chaos Landslides (Released 7 July 2010)
  This VIS image of part of Chryse Chaos shows landslide deposits at the head of the canyon.
• Melas Chasma (Released 8 July 2010)
  The floor of Melsa Chasma contains a variety of landforms.
• Elysium Channels (Released 9 July 2010)
  This VIS image shows just one of many lava channels located on the Elysium Mons volcanic complex.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Nili Patera Dunes (Released 28 June 2010)
  This VIS image shows dunes on the floor of Nili Patera, one of the two volcanic calderas of Syrtis Major.
• Alba Mons (Released 29 June 2010)
  Today's VIS image shows a small portion of the southern flank of Alba Mons.
• Marte Vallis (Released 30 June 2010)
  Marte Vallis is a lava channel.
• Polar Winds (Released 1 July 2010)
  North polar troughs are the typical location to see evidence of strong polar surface winds.
• Echus Chasma (Released 2 July 2010)
  Echus Chasma separates the Tharsis region from Lunae Planum.

When ESA's Mars Express set sail for the crater named after Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, it found a windblown plateau and mysterious rocky mounds nearby.

Stretching across 190 x 112 km, this region of Mars covers an area of about 21 280 sq km, which is roughly the size of Slovenia. It is located to the southwest of the volcanic region Tharsis on the southern highlands of Mars, near the crater Magellan.