NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Polar Pits
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1013, 25 February 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows pits formed by sublimation in the frozen carbon dioxide of the martian south polar residual cap. |
Location near: 87.0°S, 108.1°W |
Image width: ~1 km (~0.6 mi) |
Illumination from: upper left |
Season: Southern Summer |
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.
