NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Layers in Terby Crater

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-407, 30 June 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Whether on Earth or Mars, sedimentary rocks provide a record
of past environments. Of course, it is difficult to read that record
without being able to visit the site. However, the Mars Global
Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) has revealed hundreds of
locales on Mars at which sedimentary rocks are exposed at the
surface. Terby Crater exhibits hundreds of layers of similar
thickness and physical properties–some have speculated these
may be the record of an ancient lake or sea. This MOC image shows
some of the layer outcrops in Terby Crater. Fans of debris have
eroded from the steep, layered slopes in some places. This picture
covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide near 27.5°S, 285.7°W.
The image is illuminated from the upper left and was obtained in
June 2003.

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.