NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Dust Devils Near Schiaparelli

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-600, 9 January 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The four arrows in this
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
point to active dust devils captured around 2 p.m. local time on
a flat plain west of the large basin, Schiaparelli.
This image is located
near 5.1°S, 348.9°W; and
covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. The dust devil shadows
point toward the northeast (upper right) because
sunlight illuminates the scene from the southwest (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.