NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Hill and Depression

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-917, 21 November 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows exposures of north polar layered material–perhaps
composed of a mixture of dust and ice–in the form of
a hill and an adjacent depression. The depression is in
the lower half of the image and forms an oval shape at
its lowest elevations. The hill is immediately above
the depression (above the center of the image) and
forms a similar pattern of arcuate bands. This scene
is located
near 85.7°N, 21.0°W.
The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi)
wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene 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.