JPL Logo
Image

Crater Chain Groves Inside Larger Craters

Jan. 14, 2000
The craters in this image NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft, which launched in 1974, have interior rings of mountains and ejecta deposits which are scarred by deep secondary crater chain groves.

The craters in this image (128 km diameter and 195 km diameter) have interior rings of mountains and ejecta deposits which are scarred by deep secondary crater chain groves. This image (FDS 150) was taken during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury.

The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon.

Keep Exploring