Mars Picture of the Day: Layers near Juventae

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-346, 30 April 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture
obtained in April 2003 shows eroded layered rock outcrops near the
southwest rim of Juventae Chasma in the southern hemisphere. This
area is near 4.8°S, 63.7°W. Layers such as these record
some fraction of the geologic history of Mars; however, that history
cannot really be known from pictures alone. The erosional pattern of
these layers suggests that they are sedimentary rocks.
The area shown is about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the
upper left.

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.