NASA Mars Pictureof the Day: Mid-latitude Dune Field

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-887, 22 October 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a field of sand dunes in a crater in Noachis Terra
near 49.6°S, 352.9°W. Patches of autumn frost,
possibly water ice, are seen on the south/southeastern
(bottom/lower right) slopes of the dunes. This image mosaics
with the east side of the dune image released as
MOC Picture
of the Day on 22 September 2004.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper 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.