NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Ripples in Tempe Mensa Region

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-623, 1 February 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows large windblown ripples (or, some might say,
small dunes) in troughs between mesas of the Tempe
Mensa region. The ripples are generally perpendicular to
the trough walls, indicating that the local winds responsible
for creating them features blew through these canyons.
The image is located
near 33.5°N, 69.2°W.
The picture covers an area 3 km
(1.9 mi) wide; 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.