NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Memnonia Texture
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1441, 23 April 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows small ridges in the Memnonia region of Mars. The ridges or yardangs, as they are called, are formed by wind erosion of a material which is apparently more susceptible to modification by wind than other, probably stronger, materials in the scene. The large circular feature is the site of a nearly-filled, nearly-buried meteor impact crater. |
| Location near: 3.4°S, 153.0°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower 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.
