NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Terby Sedimentary Rocks

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows layered sedimentary rock outcrops in Terby Crater, located near 27.7°S, 285.4°W. The layered sediments in Terby are several kilometers thick, attesting to a long history of deposition in this ancient basin. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene 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.