Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Sedimentary Rocks of 8°N, 7°W
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-846, 11 September 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
An impact crater in western Arabia Terra at 8°N, 7°W, exhibits some of the most fantastic sedimentary rock outcrops on Mars. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an example. The crater interior has hundreds of sedimentary rock layers, each of a similar thickness and similar physical properties. The similarities between beds and their repeated nature have been used to suggest that the crater was once the site of a lake. Today, the sedimentary rocks are eroded and dark, windblown sand covers some of them. Faults cut and offset beds in some places. The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight 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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