NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Ascraeus Caldera Wall

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-732, 20 May 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows the wall on one of the calderae at the summit
of the large volcano, Ascraeus Mons. A caldera is
a large depression formed by collapse after magma in a
volcano is erupted from or withdrawn to a greater depth. After
collapse, the wall of this caldera was further modified
by downslope movement of debris and it was pelted by
small meteors to form a scattering of small craters.
This image is located
near 11.6°N, 104.6°W, and covers
an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. The picture
is illuminated by sunlight 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.