NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Exhumed Craters

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-778, 5 July 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Burial and exhumation is a theme that repeats itself, all
over the surface of Mars.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows several north mid-latitude
meteor impact craters with bouldery
ejecta deposits. Each of the craters was once buried and
later exhumed. Mesas on the floors of these craters
are remnants of the materials that once filled and
covered them. The craters are located
near 39.7°N, 206.0°W.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide;
sunlight illuminates the scene 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.