NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polar Crater

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-818, 14 August 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
picture shows a small, 280-meter (~919 feet)-diameter meteor
impact crater in south polar layered terrain. The ejecta
from the crater today stands somewhat higher than the surrounding
terrain, suggesting that, at the time the impact occurred, the
surface was several meters higher than it is today. A layer
of material, several meters thick, has been stripped away
since the time the crater formed.
The image is located
near 86.3°S, 113.0°W, and
covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. The
scene is illuminated by sunlight from the upper 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.