NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Dark Polar Dunes 05-26-2004

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-738, 26 May 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The north polar cap of Mars is surrounded by
fields of dark sand dunes.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows several dunes in the north polar region.
The winds responsible for them blow from the lower left
toward the upper right. The picture is located
near 78.6°N, 243.9°W.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left,
and the picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across.

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.