NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Mesa = Table
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1550, 10 August 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows two mesas on the northern plains of Mars. “Mesa” is the Spanish word for “table,” and that is a very good description of the two elliptical features captured in this MOC image. In both cases, the mesa tops and the material beneath them, down to the level of the surrounding, rugged plain, are remnants of a once more extensive layer (or layers) of material that has been largely eroded away. The circular feature near the center of the larger mesa is the site of a filled and buried impact crater. |
| Location near: 53.5°N, 153.5°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower left |
| Season: Northern Spring |
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.
