Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
West Arabia Sedimentary Rocks
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-896, 31 October 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
|
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows sedimentary rock outcrops within a crater in western Arabia Terra near 8.8°N, 1.3°W. These are eroded from the same rocks as seen in an earlier MOC Picture of the Day from 1 December 2003. The repeated nature of these layers indicate episodic changes took place in the sedimentary depositional environment. The sediments may have been deposited in an intracrater lake. The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/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.
To MSSS Home Page