Eberswalde (crater)
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| Planet | Mars |
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| Coordinates | 24°S 33°W / 24°S 33°WCoordinates: 24°S 33°W / 24°S 33°W |
| Diameter | 65.3 km |
| Depth | approx 800 m |
| Discoverer | Michael C. Malin and Ken Edgett |
| Eponym | Eberswalde, 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 Crater, 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. It was one of the final four proposed landing sites for the Mars rover Mars Science Laboratory mission. This extraterrestrial geological feature lies situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of Mars. It is currently considered a potential landing site for the Mars 2020 rover. In the second Mars 2020 Landing Site Workshop it survived the cut and was named to be among the top 8 sites still in the running for the landing.
Landforms in the crater provide strong evidence of the prior existence of flowing water on Mars.
Several sites in the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle have been proposed as areas to send NASA's next major Mars rover, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Eberswalde Crater was shortlisted as one of the final four proposed landing sites for the Curiosity rover, part of the MSL mission. It was voted a close second after Gale Crater by a team of scientists.
MRO discovered iron/magnesium smectites here. This mineral requires water to form.
The crater contains inverted relief, an exhumed delta formed by the flow of a liquid, most likely water. The series of valleys leading into the delta "drain" an area of approximately 4000 km². The surface area of the delta is 115 km², measuring 13 km by 11 km. The delta was discovered by Michael Malin and Kenneth Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems through imagery taken by the Mars Global Surveyor in 2003. Eberswalde delta has six lobes and is about 100 meters thick.
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