NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Melas Materials
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1449, 1 May 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark sand dunes superposed on layered, light-toned outcrops—interpreted to be sedimentary rocks—in Melas Chasma. Melas Chasma is part of the enormous Valles Marineris trough system. |
| Location near: 11.7°S, 74.6°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.
