NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Fretted Terrain Craters

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-884, 19 October 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The fretted terrains of Mars were described briefly earlier
this month in “Craters in Fretted Terrain.”
Today’s Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
Picture of the Day image shows another example of a fretted
terrain valley floor with its characteristic lineated and
finely-pitted texture. Four circular features
near the center/left center of the image are suspected
to be the locations of meteor impact craters that have been
largely eroded away. Mars is a complex world upon which
have acted processes of erosion that are not fully understood.
This image is located
near 40.4°N, 336.2°W. The image covers
an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and
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.