| Gale | |
|---|---|
Colorized shaded relief map of Gale Crater, based on High Resolution Stereo Camera data. The landing ellipse for MSL is shown on the northwestern crater floor. |
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| Planet | Mars |
| Diameter | 154 km[1] |
| Eponym | Walter Frederick Gale |
Gale is a crater on Mars, near the border of the lowlands of Elysium Planitia at . It is 154 km in diameter[1] and believed to be about 3.5 to 3.8 billion years old.[2] The crater was named after Walter Frederick Gale, an amateur astronomer who observed Mars in the late 19th century and described the presence of canals.[3]
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An unusual feature of Gale is an enormous mound of debris around its central peak, rising 5.5 km above the northern crater floor and 4.5 km above the southern crater floor - slightly taller than the southern rim of the crater itself. The mound is composed of layered material and may have been laid down over a period of around 2 billion years.[2] The origin of this mound is not known with certainty, but research suggests it is the eroded remnant of sedimentary layers that once filled the crater completely, possibly originally deposited on a lakebed.[2] However, there is debate around this issue.[4][5] Observations of possible cross-bedded strata on the upper mound suggest Aeolian processes, but the origin of the lower mound layers remains ambiguous.[6]
Gale crater is located at about 5.4S, 137.7E on Mars,[7] Spirit rover (MER-A) is at 14.57S, 175.47E.[8] Viking 2 lander is at 47.93N, 133.74E.[8]
Numerous channels eroded into the flanks of the crater's central mound could give access to the layers for study.[2] Gale will be the primary landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory[9] which was launched 26 November 2011 and will land on Mars at Gale Crater between 6–20 August 2012.[10][11][12][13] Gale was previously a candidate landing site for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover mission, and is one of four prospective sites for ESA's ExoMars.[14]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Gale_Crater Gale Crater] at Wikimedia Commons
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