NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Devil in Mendel
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1348, 20 January 2006
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a dust devil (right center) and a plethora of streaks created by previous dust devils, on the eastern floor of Mendel Crater. Dust devils are common at middle to high latitudes in the southern hemisphere during the spring and summer seasons. |
Location near: 59.0°S, 198.4°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: upper left |
Season: Southern Summer |
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.