NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Knowsky Crater

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-753, 10 June 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This red wide angle
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image, acquired in March 2004, shows Kunowsky Crater
ringed by seasonal frost. Kunowsky is about
67 km (~42 mi) in diameter. Wavy clouds form to
the east (right) of the crater in early spring
as winds circulate from west to east. The crater
is located
at 57.1°N, 9.7°W.
The picture
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.