NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Yardangs in Aeolis
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-992, 4 February 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows yardangs, formed by wind erosion, and large ripples formed in wind by deposition of sediment. The sharp yardang ridges trend from northwest toward southeast (upper left to lower right), while the ripple crests are nearly perpendicular to this trend. |
Location near: 0.9°N, 212.5°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: upper left |
Season: Northern Summer |
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.
