NASA Mars Picture of the Day: CO2 Hourglass
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1442, 24 April 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap of Mars. The bright, relatively homogeneous-appearing material extending from top (north) to bottom (south) is mainly composed of solid carbon dioxide. During the martian summer months, sublimation, the direct conversion of a solid to a gas, causes the scarps that delineate the edges of the bright material to retreat by approximately 3 meters (around 10 feet) before autumn begins. |
Location near: 87.1°S, 94.0°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.
