NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Labou Vallis

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-441, 3 August 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
shows the wind-eroded surfaces of the Labou Vallis system. The
original valley walls and floor were covered with a material that
was later eroded by wind to form the sharp, rough textured terrain
seen here. Avalanches of dust formed dark streaks on some slopes.
This picture is located near 8.5°S, 154.7°W. It is
illuminated by sunlight from the 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.