NASA Mars Picture of the Day: West Candor Layers 03-31-2004

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-682, 31 March 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Western Candor Chasma, in the vast Valles Marineris trough
system, has some of the most extensive and varied exposures
of light- and dark-toned layered rock on Mars.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows an example of layered rock exposed by erosion
in west Candor. The materials are probably sedimentary rocks,
although some investigators have argued for a volcanic origin.
The image is located
near 5.7°S, 75.8°W, and
covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the 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.