Status Report

NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Hephaestus Fossae

By SpaceRef Editor
August 24, 2003
Filed under , , ,

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-462, 24 August 2003




NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The Hephaestus Fossae are a series of collapsed pits and
troughs in central Elysium Planitia.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
provides a high resolution view of the floors, walls,
and terrain surrounding a few of the pits and troughs
in this region. The image is located near 23.0°N, 239.4°W
and is 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.

SpaceRef staff editor.