NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polar Depression
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1183, 14 August 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a circular depression and a suite of eroding mesas of carbon dioxide. These features occur in the south polar residual cap of Mars. The eroding carbon dioxide creates landforms reminiscent of “Swiss cheese”. The circular feature might indicate the location of a filled, buried impact crater. |
Location near: 86.8°S, 111.0°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 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.
