NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Polar Landforms
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1179, 10 August 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows eroded remnants of carbon dioxide ice in the south polar residual cap of Mars. The scarps that outline each small mesa have retreated about 3 meters (~10 feet) per Mars year since MGS began orbiting the red planet in 1997. |
Location near: 87.0°S, 31.9°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: upper left |
Season: Southern 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.
