Mars Picture of the Day: Frost in Charitum Montes

Mars Global Surveyor – Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-387, 10 June 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This is a Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
wide angle view of the Charitum Montes, south of
Argyre Planitia, in early June 2003. The seasonal south polar
frost cap, composed of carbon dioxide, has been retreating
southward through this area since spring began a month ago.
The bright features toward the bottom of this picture are
surfaces covered by frost.
The picture is located near
57°S, 43°W. North is at the top, south
is at the bottom. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the
upper left. The area shown is about 217 km (135 miles) wide.

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.