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Densely Cratered Region
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Caption:
One of Mariner 10's two TV cameras took this picture (FDS 166614) of a densely cratered region of Mercury at 12:39 p.m. PDT, September 21, 1974, 80 minutes prior to the spacecraft's second close encounter with the planet. Taken from a range of about 76,000 kilometers (47,000 miles) the picture shows a scarp, or cliff, two kilometers (7500 feet) above the surrounding area and is part of a larger system of faults which extends for hundreds of kilometers. Mariner 10, which mapped about one-quarter of Mercury's surface last March, is the first spacecraft to return to its target planet.
Background Info:
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.
Cataloging Keywords:
| Name | Value | Additional Values |
|---|---|---|
| Target | Mercury | |
| System | ||
| Target Type | Planet | |
| Mission | Mariner | |
| Instrument Host | Mariner 10 | |
| Host Type | Flyby Spacecraft | |
| Instrument | ||
| Detector | ||
| Extra Keywords | Crater, Grayscale, Moon | |
| Acquisition Date | ||
| Release Date | 2000-08-05 | |
| Date in Caption | 1974-09-21 | |
| Image Credit | NASA/JPL/Northwestern University | |
| Source | photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02940 | |
| Identifier | PIA02940 | |
