NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Autumn Dunes
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1538, 29 July 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a field of dark sand dunes in an unnamed crater in the Noachis Terra/Hellespontus region of Mars. In southern autumn, the skies are generally clear and the sun comes in at a steep enough angle that martian dunes look especially striking. |
| Location near: 43.6°S, 320.4°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Southern Autumn |
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.
