Mars Picture of the Day: Sand Dunes of Schaeberle Crater

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-391, 14 June 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This March 2003
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows dark sand dunes near the center of
Schaeberle Crater, located at 24.6°S, 310.3°W.
The steepest slopes on the dunes point toward the left/upper
left (northwest), indicating that, when the dunes were active,
the dominant regional winds blew from the right/lower right
(southeast). The dunes today, however, have a somewhat
stunted and sculpted appearance, which suggests that in
the most recent part of their history, they have been
somewhat eroded.
This image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide
and is illuminated 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.