NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Acidalia Plain
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1451, 3 May 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a relatively flat plain in Acidalia Planitia. The circular feature near the left (west) edge is the surface manifestation of a buried impact crater, a common feature observed on the northern plains of Mars. The darker feature is a younger, fresher impact crater—but, it too, has been somewhat buried beneath a mantle of material. |
| Location near: 53.1°N, 32.6°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.
