NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Northern Meridiani Scene

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-915, 19 November 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows eroded remnants of layered sedimentary
rock in northern Sinus Meridiani. The layering is best
seen in the circular feature at the center/right, which is
an old meteor impact crater that was once filled and buried
beneath the sedimentary rocks, then later exhumed and
eroded to its present state. All of the sedimentary rocks
exposed in this portion of northern Sinus Meridiani
are probably older than the rocks in central Sinus
Meridiani that have been examined this year by the
Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity. Like the rocks
visited by the rover, these, too, may contain detailed
clues regarding a wetter Mars in the distant past.
These landforms are located
near 6.0°N, 2.0°W.
The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi)
wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the
left/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.