NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Martian Valley
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1098, 21 May 2005
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of a martian valley, perhaps long, long ago carved by a liquid such as water, in northern Terra Cimmeria. The channel that might have once run down through the valley is no longer visible; the floor is covered with large, light-toned, windblown ripples. |
Location near: 5.7°S, 227.6°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: upper left |
Season: Southern Winter |
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.