Science and Exploration

Looking At A Crater Half Full On Mars

By Keith Cowing
Status Report
NASA
April 3, 2023
Filed under
Looking At A Crater Half Full On Mars
Looking at the Crater Half Full
NASA

Planetary scientists look for targets that help them better understand the area they are interested in. In this particular image, there is a small (1 kilometer, or 0.6 mile, wide) crater that appears to be partly-filled by deposits that have flowed into, and around it.

With this observation, scientists can learn more about the nature of these deposits. The crater offers an opportunity to gain more information about the flowing behavior of these deposits and their thickness given that the crater size can be used to estimate its depth. This provides insight into the thickness of the deposits partly filling it.

Larger image

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.