Mars Picture of the Day: Crater with Wind Streak
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-401, 24 June 2003
![]() NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
shows a streak formed by wind in the lee of a meteor impact crater.
The winds responsible for the streak and the numerous smaller
“tails” behind small obstacles all indicate that regional winds
blow from the right/upper right (northeast) toward the left/lower
left (southwest). The crater is located near
13.7°S, 131.5°W.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the
left/upper 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.