Eberswalde (crater)

Eberswalde
PlanetMars
RegionMargaritifer Terra
Coordinates24°S 33°W / 24°S 33°W / -24; -33
QuadrangleMargaritifer Sinus
Diameter65.3 km
Depthapprox 800 m
EponymEberswalde, Brandenburg, Germany

Eberswalde, formerly known as Holden NE, is a partially buried impact crater in Margaritifer Terra, Mars. Eberswalde crater lies just to the north of Holden, a large crater that may have been a lake. The 65.3-km-diameter crater, centered at 24°S, 33°W, is named after the German town of the same name, in accordance with the International Astronomical Union's rules for planetary nomenclature.[1] It was one of the final four proposed landing sites for the Mars rover Mars Science Laboratory mission.[2][3] This extraterrestrial geological feature lies situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of Mars. Although not chosen, it was considered a potential landing site for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, and in the second Mars 2020 Landing Site Workshop it survived the cut and was among the top eight sites still in the running.[4]

Landforms in the crater provide strong evidence of the prior existence of flowing water on Mars.

  1. ^ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". Retrieved 2006-12-06.
  2. ^ "The Eberswalde deltaic complex as a high science-return target" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-12-06.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference nn-msl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Golombek, J. et al. 2016. Downselection of landing Sites for the Mars 2020 Rover Mission. 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2016). 2324.pdf