Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Layers in Gale Crater
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-480, 11 September 2003
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture shows some of the layered, sedimentary rock outcrops exposed on a mound in Gale Crater near 5.0°S, 221.8°W. These layers represent a long history of sedimentation that occurred in Gale Crater at some time in the distant martian past. Later, these layers were eroded and exposed. Gale Crater may once have been completely filled by these layered materials. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight from the 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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