NASA Mars Picture of the Day: West Candor Rocks 12-11-2005
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1308, 11 December 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows light-toned, layered, sedimentary rock exposures in western Candor Chasma, part of the vast Valles Marineris trough system. Most of west Candor’s interior includes exposures of layered rock with very few superimposed impact craters. The rock may be very ancient, but the lack of craters suggests that the erosion of these materials is on-going. |
Location near: 6.3°S, 76.0°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: lower left |
Season: Southern Summer |
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.
