NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Buried Craters
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1323, 26 December 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science System |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows two circular features on the plains of northern Utopia. A common sight on the martian northern plains, these rings indicate the locations of buried impact craters. |
Location near: 65.1°N, 261.2°W |
Image width: ~2 km (~1.2 mi) |
Illumination from: lower left |
Season: Northern Summer |
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.
