NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polar Designs
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1447, 29 April 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an undulating scene in the south polar region of Mars. Small, elevated mesas of smooth, relatively homogeneous-appearing material are separated by low-lying regions that are speckled and darkened in some local areas. Over the martian summer months, sublimation of solid carbon dioxide—the bright material in the scene—contributes to the darkening of the sides of the mesas as well as the low-lying regions between them. |
| Location near: 86.8°S, 341.3°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.
