NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Martian Blanket
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1437, 19 April 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a contact between terrain which is completely mantled by a smooth-surfaced material—perhaps dust—and a rugged, cratered surface that is only partially dust-covered in the Noachis Terra region of Mars. The smooth-surfaced material likely once covered this entire scene, but has been slowly eroded away to reveal the underlying, older surface. |
| Location near: 27.8°S, 338.8°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Southern Summer |
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.
