Mars Picture of the Day: Russell Dune Gullies

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-343, 27 April 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
shows the mysterious dune gullies of Russell Crater. The terrain
shown here is one very large sand dune; the surface slopes from
upper right toward lower left. Gullies start on the slope at the
upper right and indicate flow toward the lower left. These might
have formed by the presence of a fluid–either liquid or gas–mixed
with sand that avalanched down the dune slope. Or not. Their origin
is unknown, although it is known that they tend to occur
only on slopes facing southward. The MOC team has re-imaged these
gullies several times in the past three Mars years, but no
new gullies have formed.
The picture covers an area
about 3 km (1.9 mi)
wide near
54.5°S, 347.3°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.