Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Gullies in Crater Wall
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-688, 6 April 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 gullies in the wall of a large impact crater in Newton Basin near 41.9°S, 158.1°W. Such gullies may have formed by downslope movement of wet debris--i.e.,water. Unfortunately, because the responsible fluid (if there was one) is no longer present today, only the geomorphology of the channels and debris aprons can be used to deduce that water might have been involved. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper 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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