NASA Mars Picture of the Day: West Elysium Planitia Crater

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-650, 28 February 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a middle northern latitude crater in
western Elysium Planitia
near 33.7°N, 257.8°W.
The textured floor is a common feature at north and
south middle latitudes, but its origin is not well
understood. It is possible that sublimation of ice
is a contributor to forming this texture, but it is
just as possible that the processes do not involve
ice or water in any form.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left; the
picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.

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.