NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Cracked and Pitted Plain

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-536, 6 November 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a typical view–at 1.5 meters (5 feet) per pixel–of
surfaces in far western
Utopia Planitia. In this region, the plains have developed
cracks and pit chains arranged in a polygonal
pattern. The pits form by collapse along the trend of a
previously-formed crack. This picture is located
near 45.0°N, 275.4°W. This April 2003 image covers
an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is illuminated by
sunlight 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.