Status Report

NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Polar Landforms

By SpaceRef Editor
August 10, 2005
Filed under , , ,

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


Tips for Media Use

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.

SpaceRef staff editor.