NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Daedalia Planum Wind Streaks

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-459, 21 August 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
wide angle (red camera) image shows streaks in the lee of
obstacles such as meteor impact craters and lava flow
margins in southwestern Daedalia Planum. The image covers
an area about 252 km (157 mi) across near
13°S, 142°W. The streaks indicate that the
dominant winds blow toward the northwest (left/upper left).
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/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.