Mars Picture of the Day: Buttes in Melas Chasma

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-336, 20 April 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture
obtained in March 2003 shows dark-toned buttes of possible
sedimentary rock in southern Melas Chasma. These buttes are
remnants of a layer or sequence of layers that once covered
this portion of the chasm floor. The buttes are located near
11.4°S, 75.1° W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the
upper 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.