Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Impact Crater

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-858, 23 September 2004


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows fine details in the walls and floor of a meteor impact crater located immediately west of the Lycus Sulci ridged terrain, northwest of the volcano, Olympus Mons. The walls of the crater exhibit the finely-detailed layering of the local bedrock. This crater is centered near 31.4°N, 147.7°W. The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight from the lower left.


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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.

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