NASA Mars Picture of the Day: North Polar Layers 12-03-2004

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-929, 3 December 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows an exposure of finely-detailed layers in
the martian north polar region. The polar ice cap,
which is made up of frozen water (whereas the south
polar cap is mostly frozen carbon dioxide), is underlain
by a thick sequence of layers. Some have speculated
that these layers may record
the history of changes in martian climate during the past
few hundreds of millions of years. This picture is located
near 86.0°N, 30.2°W, and covers an
area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower 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.