Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Sedimentary Rock Layers
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-618, 27 January 2004
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 layers of sedimentary rock in a crater in western Arabia Terra. Layered rock records the history of a place, but an orbiter image alone cannot tell the entire story. These materials record some past episodes of deposition of fine-grained material in an impact crater that is much larger than the image shown here. The picture is located near 3.4°N, 358.7°W, and 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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