NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Crumpled
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1501, 22 June 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the sinuous margin of a dust-covered, ridged lava flow in southern Daedalia Planum, Mars. The ridges on the flow formed by compression as the surface of the lava flow cooled and began to harden before the molten material of interior solidified. Note that the surface to the south (toward the bottom of the image) of the lava flow margin is more heavily cratered than the flow surface; this observation is consistent with the superposition relationship between the younger lava flow and older substrate. |
| Location near: 25.9°S, 128.7°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Southern Autumn |
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.
