Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

East Arabia Layers

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-657, 6 March 2004


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows eroded layered material in eastern Arabia Terra. The darkest material in this image forms a couple of mesas of ancient layered rock. Eastern Arabia is one of several regions on Mars that have been eroded in such a way as to provide clues about the nature of the layered upper crust of Mars. The image is located near 25.0°N, 302.4°W, and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower 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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