NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Dust-Raising Event in Noachis

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-452, 14 August 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Mars is a desert world. Every day, somewhere on the planet,
wind is picking up dust and moving it around.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
wide angle red camera image shows a portion of Noachis Terra
on a winter afternoon as great gusts of wind lifted dust
from a variety of surfaces all across the region. At the time
the picture was acquired, winds were blowing from the northwest
(left/upper left) toward the southeast (lower right). Located
near 38°S, 330°W, this image covers an area approximately
252 km (158 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper
left; some of the dust plumes can be seen to cast shadows toward
the bottom/lower right (south/southeast).

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.