NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Nili Buttes and Mesas

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-784, 11 July 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows small buttes and irregular mesas on the floor
of a crater in the Nili Fossae region of Mars. Considerable
erosion in the Nili Fossae region has exposed layered rocks
and stripped materials away, revealing long-buried landforms
and more ancient landscapes. This image is located
near 24.3°N, 279.8°W. It
covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is
illuminated by sunlight 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.