NASA Mars Picture of the Day: 8 Degrees N 7 Degrees W Crater
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1287, 20 November 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows light-toned, layered, sedimentary rock outcrops in an unnamed crater located at 8°N, 7°W. Dark, windblown sand enhances the contrast in this view. Hundreds of layers of repeated thickness and physical properties suggest that a cyclic or at least episodic process acted over a considerable period of time to deposit these materials in the crater. At the time the sediments were deposited, the crater might have hosted a lake. |
Location near: 6.1°N, 10.7°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: lower left |
Season: Northern Autumn |
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.
