NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Defrosting South Polar Sand

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-624, 2 February 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image provides a springtime view of defrosting processes
on a surface that
in summer would be a dark patch of sand.
In winter, the sand is covered
by frost (carbon dioxide and possibly water ice, as well).
In spring, the sand develops a spotted pattern as the
frosts sublime away. The sand patch is part of a dune
field in Jeans Crater, located in the south polar region
near 69.8°S, 206.6°W.
The picture covers an area 3 km
(1.9 mi) wide; sunlight illuminates the scene from the 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.