NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Promethei Pedestal
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1420, 2 April 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a pedestal crater in the Promethei Terra region. The ejecta from an impact crater is usually rocky. The rocks in the ejecta help shield the terrain beneath the ejecta from being eroded away by wind. Thus, over time, some craters appear to be raised on pedestals defined by their ejecta blankets, because wind has stripped away tons and tons of surrounding material. |
| Location near: 65.4°S, 264.7°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Southern Autumn |
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.
