Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Exhumed Arabian Crater
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-830, 26 August 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
Eastern Arabia Terra shares many attributes with western Arabia and Sinus Meridiani. In particular, it is a region of vast layered rock within which are interbedded filled and buried craters and valleys. Erosion has subsequently re-exposed many of these landforms, including the exhumed and eroded crater shown in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image. Following the period in which erosion occurred, the region was blanketed by dust. This image is located near 22.5°N, 318.4°W, and covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/lower 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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