NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Dark Polar Dunes 09-01-2006
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1572, 1 September 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dunes in the martian north polar region. The dunes are composed of dark, coarse sand. The white areas around the dunes are the last remaining areas of seasonal carbon dioxide frost cover. The solid carbon dioxide accumulates during the autumn and winter and sublimes (goes from solid to gas) away in the spring. This image was taken near the end of the northern spring. |
| Location near: 78.0°N, 244.5°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower left |
| Season: Northern Spring |
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.
