Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Layers in Crater Wall

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-613, 22 January 2004


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This January 2004 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows three distinct bands of layered material exposed in the wall of a south, middle-latitude meteor impact crater wall. Talus--debris shed from erosion of the wall--has piled up on the slopes below the layered outcrop. This picture is located near 45.5°S, 85.9°W, and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the right/lower right.


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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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