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MARCI Views a Mars Impact Crater in Amazonis Planitia

Oct. 27, 2022
The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this before-and-after comparison of a region of Mars called Amazonis Planitia, which was struck by a meteoroid on Dec. 24, 2021.

The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this before-and-after comparison of a region of Mars called Amazonis Planitia, which was struck by a meteoroid on Dec. 24, 2021.

The impact was so large that MARCI can view it from space.

As MRO passes over the planet, MARCI takes linear images – essentially strips – of the planet's circumference each day. The images are then stitched together to create a daily global map of the planet, data that's typically used to monitor atmospheric changes and Martian weather.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. MARCI was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.

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