NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Loire Dust Devil
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1231, 25 September 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an active dust devil making its way across the rugged terrain of the Loire Vallis system. The dust devil, seen as a fuzzy, nearly-circular bright feature near the center of the picture, is casting a shadow toward the right/upper right (east/northeast). Unlike some martian dust devils, this one did not make a dark streak on the ground. Many more dust devils occur on Mars than there are dust devil streaks observed on the planet’s surface. |
Location near: 18.2°S, 16.5°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.
