Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Becquerel's Bands
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-987, 30 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 alternating light- and dark-toned bands--layers of sedimentary rock exposed by erosion in Becquerel Crater. Becquerel is located in western Arabia Terra near 4.1°N, 111.5°W, and might have once been the site of a lake. A few straight, narrow fault lines can be seen in the image; they cut the rock in trends that run from upper right toward lower left (northeast-southwest). This picture covers an area about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) wide and is illuminated by sunlight 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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