NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Polar Dunes, Spotted

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-827, 23 August 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows sand dunes in the martian north polar region
in mid-spring, July 2004.
In summer, the dunes will be dark. As they defrost, dark
spots form on their surfaces. This image is located
near 82.8°N, 219.6°W.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across
and 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.