Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Meridiani Cliffs and Buttes

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-347, 1 May 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image of layered sedimentary rock outcrops in northern Sinus Meridiani shows several buttes and ridges formed in rock that is somewhat resistant to erosion. The circular feature near the bottom of the picture is an old impact crater that was filled, then buried within the layered material, then later partially exhumed. The sinuous ridge and small buttes to the right of the exhumed crater are composed of the same rock materials that once buried the crater. The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide near 2.3°N, 353.6°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left.

Other versions of this picture:
300 dpi JPG
300 dpi TIF

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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