Status Report

Mars Picture of the Day: Terrain Near Gordii Dorsum

By SpaceRef Editor
June 6, 2003
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Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-383, 6 June 2003




NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Small ridges known as yardangs in the upper left quarter
of this April 2003
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image indicate that wind has stripped away a mantling layer of
sediment to reveal the terrain beneath. Layers and boulders on
the cliff face near the south-center of the image show that the
substrate is quite competent; its location southwest of Olympus
Mons near Gordii Dorsum suggests the bedrock here may include old
lava flows. The picture is located
near 4.8°N, 142.7°W.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the
left/lower 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.

SpaceRef staff editor.