Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Crater in Syrtis Major

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-527, 28 October 2003


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture shows a meteor impact crater in central Syrtis Major. This is a relatively young crater; its ejecta patterns are very well preserved and have not been eroded away by wind or buried by fine sediment. The crater is located near 8.5°N, 295.2°W. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is illuminated by sunlight from the left/upper 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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