NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Dunes and Wind Streaks

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-755, 12 June 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows small, dark, north polar sand dunes and
attendant wind streaks located
near 76.7°N, 317.6°W. The dominant winds
responsible for these features blow from the southwest
(lower left). The image
covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. The scene
is illuminated by sunlight 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.