Status Report

NASA Mars Picture of the Day: MOC 1000th Release!

By SpaceRef Editor
February 12, 2005
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Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1000, 12 February 2005




NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems



This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows
the remains of two impact craters that were filled, buried, and then
exhumed from within layered sedimentary rock in the martian crater,
Gale. Wind erosion has sculpted tapered yardang ridges in the uppermost
rock layers exposed at this location.

This is the 1000th captioned
image release from the MGS MOC team. The first release occurred in
July 1997, when the spacecraft was still speeding toward the red
planet. Many people have asked “why are the releases numbered
starting with ‘MOC2’?” The MGS MOC is the second MOC, so it is
designated “MOC2”. The first MOC was flown on the Mars Observer
spacecraft, which was lost just before arrival at Mars in
August 1993. The MOC science investigation was originally selected
by NASA in 1986. The MGS MOC effort is currently in its third
extended mission, and is funded through at least October 2006.

Location near: 5.0°S, 222.8°W

Image width: ~3.0 km (~1.9 mi)

Illumination from: upper left

Season: Southern Winter


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 Editor

SpaceRef staff editor.

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