NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Polar Unconformity 08-27-2006
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1566, 26 August 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows layered material exposed on a slope in the north polar region. An unconformity is visible in the middle/upper left of the image, where layers are abruptly truncated. Unconformities are indicators of drastic change in the region—the lower layers were deposited first, then eroded, then the upper layers were deposited. |
| Location near: 81.1°N, 75.2°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.
