NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Northeast Arabia Terra

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-844, 9 September 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Northeastern Arabia Terra is a heavily eroded portion of
the martian cratered highlands. Layered rock, containing
filled and buried valleys and ancient impact craters, has
been eroded such that these once-buried features are now
partially exposed at the martian surface.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows an example of a field of circular and somewhat
circular features that once were impact craters that were
subsequently filled, buried, then exhumed to form the patterns
exhibited here. The image is located
near 25.6°N, 290.2°W.
The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across
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.