NASA Mars Picture of the Day: North Polar Layers 01-02-2005

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-959, 2 January 2005

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a depression eroded into north polar layered
materials located
near 86.1°N, 30.8°W. The layers in the north
polar region have been considered for more than 30 years
to be composed of dust and ice, although this cannot
be confirmed without sending a person or robot to
investigate. This picture covers an area about
3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates
the scene from the upper left.

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.