NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Galle Crater Dunes

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-597, 6 January 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows sand dunes in southern Galle Crater, east of
Argyre Planitia. The sand that comprises these dunes, like
other dunes on Mars, is dark, but at the time this picture
was acquired during early southern summer, the dunes were
covered with a coating of bright dust. Occasional, passing
dust devils or wind gusts created the dark streaks seen on a
few of the dunes. The dunes are
located near 51.9°S, 31.2°W. The image
covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide;
sunlight illuminates the scene 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.