NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Nirgal Vallis
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1337, 9 January 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the floor and walls of a small portion of Nirgal Vallis. The floor is covered by large windblown ripples. The valley wall near the center right exhibits a group of gullies, formed perhaps by a combination of mass movement and possibly seepage and runoff of groundwater. |
Location near: 28.2°S, 42.2°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.
