Mars Picture of the Day: Daedalia Lava Flow Margin

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-392, 15 June 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows the margin of a lava flow near the edge
of a scarp in far western Daedalia Planum. A blanket of dust
covers the upland (top 1/3 of picture) and the rugged
lava flow (lower 2/3 of picture) surfaces. Wind has eroded
fine sediment to form triangular tails on top
of the ridges of the old lava flow.
This image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide
near 20.1°S, 146.6°W. The picture
is illuminated from the 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.