Mars Picture of the Day: Features in Aureum Chaos

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-908, 12 November 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows light-toned, sedimentary rock outcrops in
the Aureum Chaos region of Mars. On the brightest and
steepest slope in this scene, dry talus shed from the outcrop
has formed a series of dark fans along its base. These
outcrops are located
near 3.4°S, 27.5°W. The image
covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across
and 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.