Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Becquerel's Sediment
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-978, 21 January 2005
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 light-toned, layered, sedimentary rock outcrops in south-central Becquerel Crater in western Arabia Terra near 21.3°N, 8.4°W. The layered material may have been deposited in an intracrater lake, early in martian history. The material has subsequently been exposed and eroded by wind. Dark sand dunes have accumulated along the southern margin (bottom of image) of the outcrop exposure. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide 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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