Status Report

NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Landforms in East Candor

By SpaceRef Editor
October 29, 2004
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Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-894, 29 October 2004




NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows steep slopes of light-toned rock and
dark windblown sand in eastern Candor Chasma, part of
the vast Valles Marineris trough system.
The rock is probably sedimentary.
In a few places, rock has broken down and slid downslope
to create a narrow chute and a pile of talus where the
slope meets the adjacent dark, dune-covered plain.
This image is located
near 7.8°S, 64.9°W.
The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper 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.

SpaceRef staff editor.