Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Layers in Holden Crater
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-265C, 4 December 2000
Layered martian sedimentary rock in some locations is expressed
as alternating bands of light- and dark-toned material. Outcrops
of this type are especially common in Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images of Holden Crater at 26.5°S,
33.9°W. The smooth, almost rounded slope in which these layers
are exposed is reminiscent of the colorful layers in rocks of the
Painted Desert in Arizona, U.S.A. This picture is illuminated from the
lower right. For additional information about the picture, taken in
July 1999, see
"Alternating Light- and Dark-toned Layers in Holden Crater," MOC2-262, December 4, 2000.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
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,
CA. 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, CA
and Denver, CO.
To MSSS Home Page