NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Layered Rocks of Melas

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows layered sedimentary rock outcrops exposed by
erosion in southern Melas Chasma, one of the major Valles
Marineris troughs. Such outcrops are common in southern
Melas; they resemble the rock outcrops seen in some of the
chaotic terrains and other Valles Marineris chasms.
This image is located
near 11.9°S, 74.6°W, and is
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.