NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Frosty Polygons

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-607, 16 January 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Looking somewhat like a roadmap, this 3 km (1.9 mi) wide
view of a cratered plain in the martian south polar region
shows a plethora of cracks that form polygonal patterns.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image is located
near 78.9°S, 357.3°W. Polygons such as these,
where they are found on Earth, would be indicators of the
presence of subsurface ice. Whether the same is true for
Mars is uncertain. What is certain is that modern, seasonal
frost on the surface enhances the apperance of the polygons
as the frost persists longer in the cracks than on adjacent plains.
This southern springtime
image is illuminated by sunlight from the upper 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.