NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Into the Void
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1465, 17 May 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of a chain of pits on a lava- and dust-covered plain northwest of Tharsis Tholus—one of the many volcanic constructs in the Tharsis region of Mars. Pit chains, such as this one, are associated with the collapse of surface materials into subsurface voids formed by faulting and expansion—or extension—of the bedrock. |
| Location near: 16.4°N, 92.6°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower left |
| Season: Northern Winter |
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.
