Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Northern Plains Buried Craters
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-582, 22 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) image shows three circular features on the martian northern plains near 70.7°N, 311.7°W. These circular features are the locations of meteor impact craters that have been buried beneath the plains. Much of the northern plains shares this story, in which thousands of old craters have been filled or partially filled and then thinly buried beneath textured plains. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. 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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