Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Ius Chasma Fault

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-415, 8 July 2003


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a "text-book example" of an offset in layered rock caused by a fault. The offset is most easily seen near the upper right of the image. The martian crust is faulted, and the planet has probably experienced "earthquakes" (or, marsquakes) in the past. This scene is located on the floor of Ius Chasma near 7.8°S, 80.6°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper 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.

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