NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Gullies and Dunes 07-07-2006
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1516, 7 July 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows gullies overlain by seasonal frost in the north wall of an unnamed crater west of Hellas Planitia. The gullies likely formed by a combination of mass movement (i.e., landsliding) and fluid flow (i.e., water-rich debris flows). Below (south of) the gullies is a field of sand dunes; they, too, are covered by seasonal frost. |
| Location near: 47.4°S, 322.8°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Southern Winter |
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.
