Mars Picture of the Day: Dunes and Dust Devil Tracks

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-352, 6 May 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

March 6, 2003, is the first day of spring in the martian
southern hemisphere. As spring progresses in the south, dust
devils will begin to form and sweep up some of the
veneer of bright dust that accumulated during the recent autumn
and winter seasons.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
shows sand dunes in Wirtz Crater. The dark streaks that criss-cross
each dune were probably formed by passing dust devils
that disrupted or removed some of the thin layer of dust that
coats the dunes.
The picture covers an area
about 3 km (1.9 mi)
wide near
48.3°S, 25.4°W.
Sunlight illuminates the scene 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.