NASA Mars Picture of the Day: September Dust Devil

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-843, 8 September 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Presently Mars is experiencing late spring in
its northern hemisphere, and
dust devil activity is picking up as summer approaches.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image of a cratered plain in southern Acidalia Planitia
was acquired earlier this week on 5 September 2004. The
arrow points to a dust devil observed that day.
The image is located
near 29.2°N, 30.3°W, and covers an
area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across. 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.