NASA Mars Picture of the Day: On a Pedestal
Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1539, 30 July 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a pedestal crater in the Eumenides Dorsum region of Mars. The rocky ejecta from this crater protected the underlying material from being eroded away by wind, leaving the crater standing high above the surrounding plains. |
| Location near: 11.9°N, 156.5°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Northern 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.
