NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Polar Cone
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1519, 10 July 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a cone-shaped hill, perhaps a remnant of a material that was once more laterally extensive across the area, on a textured plain in the Hyperboreus Labyrinthus region in the north polar region of Mars. The hill and its surroundings are covered with a blanket of solid carbon dioxide which imparts a roughly homogeneous-tone to the scene. Despite its shape, the feature is not a volcano; over the past 9 years, the MGS MOC investigation has found no unambiguous evidence for volcanic landforms in the north polar region. |
| Location near: 79.5°N, 57.0°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower left |
| Season: Northern Spring |
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.
