Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Filled and Exhumed Crater
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-871, 6 October 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This picture is a mosaic of three Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images (E14-01679, M21-00388, M10-02183) and a lower resolution Mars Odyssey THEMIS VIS image (V09499005), showing details in an exhumed meteor impact crater in eastern Sinus Meridiani. Layered sedimentary rocks are seen within the crater and on the terrain outside the crater. This crater was once completely filled and buried within the martian bedrock. It was most likely encased in rock that is older than the strata being explored by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER-B), Opportunity, several hundred kilometers west of this area. Erosion has brought the old crater back to the surface of Mars. This landform is located near 0.7°N, 352.7°W. The 1 km scale bar is about 0.62 miles long. Sunlight illuminates the images from the 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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