NASA Mars Image of the Day: Dunes of the North
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1046, 30 March 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows linear and barchan sand dunes in Chasma Boreale, a broad erosional trough in the martian north polar region. Winds responsible for these dunes generally blow from upper right toward the lower left. Martian dunes tend to be darker than their counterparts on Earth because they are composed of darker, iron-bearing minerals and rock fragments. |
Location near: 84.2°N, 37.9°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: lower 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.
