Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
White Rock
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1281, 14 November 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 a portion of the famous "White Rock" feature in Pollack Crater in the Sinus Sabaeus region of Mars. The light-toned rock is not really white, but its light tone caught the eye of Mars geologists as far back as 1972, when it was first spotted in images acquired by Mariner 9. The light-toned materials are probably the remains of a suite of layered sediments that once spread completely across the interior of Pollack Crater. Dark materials in this image include sand dunes and large ripples. |
| Location near: 8.1°S, 335.1°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower left |
| Season: Southern Summer |
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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