NASA Mars Picture of the Day: North Nilosyrtis Mesas

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-518, 19 October 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This April 2003 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
shows mesas and troughs in the northern Nilosyrtis Mensae region
of Mars. The larger mesas are capped by boulders or small knobs
which are probably the eroded remnants of a layer of rock.
The picture is located
near 37.8°N, 282.5°W and covers an area 3 km
(1.9 mi) wide. The scene 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.