Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Exhumed Craters near Kaiser
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-828, 24 August 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
The upper left (northwest) corner of this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a crater within which are several layers of eroded material. This crater, and probably all of its degraded neighbors, was once filled and buried, and was later exhumed. The burial and exhumation theme is one that repeats all over the surface of Mars, as ancient rocks are eroded to expose previously filled and buried craters, valleys, and landscapes. This particular image is located near the northwest rim of Kaiser Crater, in Noachis Terra, near 45.2°S, 342.7°W. 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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