NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polar Remnants
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1384, 25 February 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the remains of a once more laterally extensive layer overlying undulating terrain very near the south polar residual cap. Removal of the overlying layer has created “windows” through which are revealed topographic variations in the underlying material, predominantly manifested in the form of ridges which run diagonally, from the southwest (lower left) to the northeast (upper right), across the scene. |
| Location near: 86.9°S, 196.0°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Southern Summer |
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.
