NASA Mars Picture of the Day: East Candor’s Rocks
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1196, 27 August 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows light-toned, layered rock outcrops found in eastern Candor Chasma, part of the vast Valles Marineris trough system. Rocks such as these have been known to occur in the Valles Marineris since the 1971-1972 Mariner 9 mission. Whether they formed in rock that was exposed by the opening (by faulting) of the Candor Chasma trough, or formed in the trough after it was formed, is a matter of on-going debate and discussion within the Mars science community. |
Location near: 6.3°S, 69.3°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: lower left |
Season: Southern Spring |
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology
built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission.
MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, California.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena,
California and Denver, Colorado.
