NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dust-mantled layer exposures (left) in east Candor Chasma, one of the troughs of the Valles Marineris system. Erosion of the steeper slope (right) has disrupted the expression of layered material, indicating that some layered materials on Mars may not be recognized as such, depending upon how the materials have been degraded. This image is located near 7.8°S, 65.6°W. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the 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.