NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Striped Scarp
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1537, 28 July 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a steep slope in the north polar region of Mars. The stripes indicate an exposure of layered material; the variations in brightness among the stripes are the result of varying amounts and textures on seasonal carbon dioxide frost. At the time the image was acquired in June 2006, the carbon dioxide frost was beginning to sublime way, leaving a variety of different patterns in frost distribution. |
| Location near: 85.2°N, 122.7°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower left |
| Season: Northern Spring |
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.
