NASA Mars Image of the Day: Streamlined Island

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-514, 15 October 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture
shows a streamlined island in Marte Vallis, a large outflow
channel system that crosses the 180°W meridian between the Elysium
and Amazonis regions of Mars. The flow patterns on the floor of
Marte Vallis might be the remains of lava flows or mud flows.
Marte is the Spanish word for Mars. Most of the largest
valleys on the red planet are named for “Mars” in various languages.
This island is located
near 21.8°N, 175.3°W. The picture covers an area 3 km
(1.9 mi) wide and is illuminated by sunlight from the lower 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.