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PIA06950: Fretted Terrain Craters
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a fretted terrain valley floor with its characteristic lineated and finely-pitted texture. Four circular features are suspected to be the locations of meteor impact craters that have been largely eroded away.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
 Instrument:  Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) 
 Product Size:  835 x 1252 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-884  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA06950.tif (1.047 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA06950.jpg (238.1 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

19 October 2004
The fretted terrains of Mars were described briefly earlier this month in "Craters in Fretted Terrain." Today's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) Picture of the Day shows another example of a fretted terrain valley floor with its characteristic lineated and finely-pitted texture. Four circular features near the center/left center of the image are suspected to be the locations of meteor impact craters that have been largely eroded away. Mars is a complex world upon which have acted processes of erosion that are not fully understood. This image is located near 40.4°N, 336.2°W. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2004-10-19