Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Layers in Tithonium
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-570, 10 December 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 eroded layered bedrock outcrops in the upper walls of one of the depressions in the Tithonium Chasma trough system. Tithonium Chasma is one of the canyons of the Valles Marineris, a vast gouge that---if it occurred on Earth---would span the distance from Los Angeles, California, to New York City. The Valles Marineris canyons were not carved by running water, instead they formed mostly by the combined forces of faulting and mass movement (landslides) as gravity eroded materials from the walls. This image is located near 4.2°S, 85.1°W. The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is illuminated 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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