Mars Picture of the Day: Chasma Boreale Dunes
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-354, 8 May 2003
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
In this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image,
wind has streaked a field of defrosting sand dunes in Chasma Boreale
in the martian north polar region. Dune slip faces–the steep
slope formed by avalanching sand on each dune–and the dark streaks
indicate that wind transports sediment from the lower left toward
the upper right.
The picture covers an area
about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide near
84.6°N, 358.5°W.
Sunlight illuminates the scene 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.
