NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Dunes and Dust Devil Tracks

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-826, 22 August 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a suite of dark sand dunes that formed in winds
blowing from east (right) to west (left), along with
smaller, lighter-toned ripples and many dark dust devil
tracks. The dust devil tracks indicate movement from a
variety of directions, while the dunes only indicate winds
from the east. In the lower left quarter of the image, dune
sand has flowed around a layered rock obstacle. This scene
is located
near 19.9°N, 280.5°W.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across
and sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower 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.