NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Rugged Terrain
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1184, 15 August 2005
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows rugged terrain in the Nestus Valles portion of northern Memnonia. Wind erosion has scoured the landscape. Dust, deposited after the wind erosion occurred, mantles the scene. Dark streaks have formed by avalanching of the fine, dry dust on some of the slopes in the region. |
Location near: 6.8°S, 158.5°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: lower left |
Season: Southern Spring |
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.