NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Gordii Fossae Troughs

NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Polar Barchans
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-795, 22 July 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows troughs and pits formed by collapse in the Gordii Fossae region, east of the volcano, Olympus Mons. Squiggly ridges with crests roughly aligned northwest-southeast (upper left to lower right), scattered throughout the image, are windblown dunes that have been covered by a mantling of dust. The image is located near 16.2°N, 125.3°W, and covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene 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.