Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Layered Rock in West Candor
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-662, 11 March 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
West Candor Chasma, one of the troughs of the vast Valles Marineris system, presents some of the largest areas covered by outcrops of light-toned, layered rock on Mars. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an example located in west Candor near 6.1°S, 76.7°W. Hundreds of layers are exposed in this area. The dark ripples are believed to be just that--dark patches of windblown sediment shaped into rippled forms. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left; the high resolution image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
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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