Status Report

NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Buried Craters

By SpaceRef Editor
December 26, 2005
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Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1323, 26 December 2005


Medium-sized view of MGS MOC Picture of the Day, updated daily


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


Tips for Media Use

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.