Mars Picture of the Day: Martian Dust Devil Tracks

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-351, 5 May 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
portrays a plethora of dark streaks created by passing dust
devils during early summer in the martian southern hemisphere.
The picture covers an area
about 3 km (1.9 mi)
wide near
40.2°S, 237.7°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.