NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Impact Crater 01-16-2006
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1344, 16 January 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an impact crater, roughly the size of the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona, U.S.A., in western Elysium Planitia. Light-toned, windblown ripples of sediment have accumulated in subtle troughs and in the lee—the downwind side—of the crater. |
Location near: 28.4°N, 247.9°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: lower left |
Season: Northern Winter |
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.
