NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Sirenum Fossae Troughs 08-07-2004

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-811, 7 August 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The martian crust expanded and cracked in patterns
radial to the great Tharsis Bulge; one suite of
troughs and cracks is the Sirenum Fossae.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows two troughs and the bouldery debris shed
from their walls. The image is located
near 29.8°S, 147.9°W. The picture covers
an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is
illuminated by sunlight from the upper 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.