NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Ius Chasma Layers

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-542, 12 November 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Outcrops of layered rock abound in the “grand canyon of Mars,” the
Valles Marineris. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image provides an example from the upper northeast wall of
Ius Chasma. This picture is located near 7.7°S, 76.1°W.
The picture is 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and illuminated by
sunlight from the lower right.

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.