NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Dunes of Wirtz
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1581, 10 September 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark sand dunes, formed by winds blowing from the southwest (lower left), in Wirtz Crater. The crater is named for Carl Wilhelm Wirtz (1876–1939), a German astronomer. |
| Location near: 49.0°S, 25.5°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Southern Autumn |
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.
