Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Peridier Crater

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-450, 12 August 2003


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle red instrument captured this autumn view of Peridier Crater on August 6, 2003. The crater is about 100 km (62 mi.) in diameter and located at 25.7°N, 276.2°W. It was named for French astronomer Julien Peridier (1882-1967). In this Mercator map-projected view, north is up and east is to the right. The dark feature on the southwest floor of the crater is known from high resolution MOC images to be a field of windblown dunes. Finer, dark-toned sediment has been blown out of the dune field and settled on the crater rim and just outside the crater to the southwest. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower 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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