Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Cracked Plain, Buried Craters
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-839, 4 September 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 a cracked plain in western Utopia Planitia. The three circular crack patterns indicate the location of three buried meteor impact craters. These landforms are located near 41.9°N, 275.9°W. The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates this scene from the 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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