NASA Mars Picture of the Day: North Polar Slope

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-947, 21 December 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Slopes in the north polar region of Mars exhibit
outcroppings of layered material. No one knows
the composition of the layers, but the uppermost
layers of are thought to be a mixture of dust and
ice in some proportion. Lower layers in the north
polar region are thought to include sand.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a late northern spring view of a
slope on which are exposed some of the upper
layers in the north polar region. Bright surfaces
in this image are covered by frost.
The image is located
near 81.5°N, 340.6°W.
The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
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.