NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Green Gullies
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1497, 18 June 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a series of small gullies on the north wall of a crater within the much larger Green Crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. The gullies might have formed by seepage and runoff of ground water; others have suggested that melting snow or ice might create such gullies. The crater floor exhibits a field of sand dunes and some wispy, dark streaks left by passing dust devils. |
| Location near: 53.0°S, 8.0°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.
