Status Report

NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Devilish Details

By SpaceRef Editor
September 23, 2005
Filed under , , ,

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1229, 23 September 2005


Medium-sized view of MGS MOC Picture of the Day, updated daily


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems



This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small, springtime dust devil creating a dark streak on the plains of Argyre. The small, bright dot is the dust devil. Many other dark streaks on the plains indicate the areas where other dust devils had passed within the past several weeks before this July 2005 image was acquired.

Location near: 44.6°S, 40.3°W

Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)

Illumination from: upper left

Season: Southern Spring


Tips for Media Use

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.

SpaceRef staff editor.