NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Martian Flows
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1245, 9 October 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows several overlapping lava flows located on the vast plains east of the volcano, Ascraeus Mons. Hundreds of lava flows cover the plains from Ascraeus Mons eastward to Kasei Valles. These flows have largely been mantled by fine dust; a few areas in the image exhibit dark streaks, where wind gusts have stripped away some of this thin dust mantle. |
Location near: 5.2°N, 86.7°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: lower left |
Season: Northern 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.
