[meteorite-list] HiRISE Camera Shows Mojave Crater Peak is High and Dry

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:09:50 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200701241809.KAA22524_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

HiRISE CAMERA SHOWS MOJAVE CRATER PEAK IS HIGH AND DRY
(From Lori Stiles, University Communications, 520-626-4402)

- Wednesday, January 24, 2007

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Contact Information
 Alfred S. McEwen, UA. Principal Investigator, HiRISE
 520-621-4573 mcewen at lpl.arizona.edu

Related Web sites
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu
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The HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took a huge,
detailed image of Mars' Mojave crater on Jan. 7, 2007.

Part of that photograph shows the central uplift structure in the crater.
Rocks that form this peak were several kilometers beneath the surface until
an impact formed the 37 mile-diameter (60 kilometer) crater just north of
Mars' equator. The HiRISE image shows that boulders as large as 50 feet
across (15 meters) have eroded from the massive uplifted rock and rolled
downslope.

The HiRISE image also confirms earlier evidence that this part of Mojave
crater appears untouched by liquid water. Previous photographs taken by the
HiRISE camera, and even earlier by the Mars Orbital Camera that flew on
NASA'S Mars Global Surveyor, show that Mojave crater rim walls feature
striking drainage channels and alluvial fans that likely were formed by
surface water runoff. How runoff formed these channels and alluvial fans is
one of the questions that HiRISE team members and their collaborators are
looking into.

The High Resolution Science Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) team, led by
University of Arizona Professor Alfred S. McEwen, is based at UA's Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory in Tucson. HiRISE began the science phase of the
mission in November, 2006, and posts new images and captions on the Internet
at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu every Wednesday.

More information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission is available
at http://www.nasa.gov/mro. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the
project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball
Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Received on Wed 24 Jan 2007 01:09:50 PM PST