NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Cratered Hill in Amazonis

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-602, 11 January 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Looking somewhat like a martian moon that has been plunked
down into a rough-texured but otherwise flat plain, this
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
shows an old,
cratered hill was once part of the rim of a meteor impact
crater. The crater has been both eroded away and partly
filled and buried beneath the rugged plains. The hill is
interpreted to be considerably older than the plains, because
it has considerably more small meteor craters than the
surrouding terrain. This hill is located
near 23.0°N, 166.5°W. The image
covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and 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.