NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Polygon Patterns

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-511, 12 October 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This August 2003 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows polygon patterns, enhanced by frost in the cracks that outline
the polygon forms, in the south polar region of Mars. On Earth,
patterns such as this usually indicate
the presence of ice in the subsurface. The same might be true
for Mars. This picture is located near
70.6°S, 309.5°W, and
covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. The image is illuminated
by sunlight from the upper left.

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.