NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polar Details
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1228, 22 September 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows details among some of the eroded layer outcrops of the martian south polar region. Much of the south polar region of Mars is covered by a thick unit of layered material. For decades, the layers have been assumed to consist of a mixture of dust and ice, but it is equally possible that the materials are sedimentary rocks. This image was captured during southern spring, at a time when some of the surface was still covered by seasonal carbon dioxide (CO2) frost. |
Location near: 86.5°S, 116.6°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: upper 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.
