NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Northern Plains “Crater”

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-936, 10 December 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The lower left (southwest) corner of
this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows the location of a somewhat filled and buried meteor
impact crater on the northern plains of Mars. The dark dots are
boulders. A portion of a similar feature
is seen in the upper right (northeast) corner of the image.
This picture, showing landforms (including the odd mound
north/northeast of the crater) that are typical of the
martian northern lowland plains, was obtained as part of
the MGS MOC effort to support the search for a landing
site for the Phoenix Mars Scout lander. Phoenix will launch
in 2007 and land on the northern plains in 2008.
This image is located
near 68.0°N, 227.4°W, and covers an area
approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. The scene 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.