Status Report

NASA Mars Image of the Day: Crater in Elysium Planitia

By SpaceRef Editor
March 15, 2004
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Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-666, 15 March 2004




NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows an impact crater in northern Elysium Planitia
near 31.3°N, 236.8°W. Layered rock is exposed in
the upper crater walls. Light-toned ripples or small
dunes can be seen in the crater, on its ejecta blanket,
and on the surrounding plains.
This February 2004 picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower 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.

SpaceRef staff editor.