NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Windstreaked Plain
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1121, 13 June 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a wind-streaked plain in Tharsis near the Pavonis Mons volcano. The lighter-toned surfaces show how the plain used to look, before strong winds removed much of a thin coating of dust. The light-toned tails behind several craters show that the winds blew from the southwest (lower left). |
Location near: 10.6°N, 113.8°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: lower left |
Season: Northern Autumn |
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.
