NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Lomonosov In Spring

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-861, 26 September 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This blue wide angle Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the frost-covered rims of Lomonosov Crater in late martian spring. At the north (top) end of the image, low, ground-hugging fog can be seen in association with the retreating seasonal polar cap. Lomonosov Crater is about 150 km (93 mi) in diameter and located at 65°N, 9°W. The image is illuminated by sunlight from the lower left.

Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology
built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission.
MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, California.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena,
California and Denver, Colorado.