NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Mid-latitude Gullies
Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1286, 19 November 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows deep gullies cut into the wall of a south mid-latitude crater. Erosion has exposed layers in the upper wall of the crater; it is possible that groundwater seeping through a layer or layers in the wall led to the genesis of the gullies. The banked nature of the gully channels suggests that a liquid was involved. |
Location near: 35.5°S, 194.8°W |
Image width: ~2 km (~1.2 mi) |
Illumination from: upper left |
Season: Southern Spring |
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.
