NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Channel in Kasei

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-910, 14 November 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The Kasei Valles are a suite of very large,
ancient outflow channels.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a portion of the youngest channel system
in the Kasei Valles. Torrents of mud, rocks, and water
carved this channel as flow was constricted through a
narrow portion of the valley. Layers exposed by
the erosion that created the channel can be seen
in its walls. This 1.4 meters (5 feet) per pixel
image is located
near 21.1°N, 72.6°W. The picture
covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the 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.