NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polar Mesas 09-28-2003

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-497, 28 September 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows some of the
scarps, mesas, and circular depressions of the
south polar residual cap.
These landforms are created
in material consisting largely of frozen
carbon dioxide. Each layer is a record of a past,
colder martian climate. This August 2003
picture is located near
86.9°S, 342.8°W, and
covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across. The scene
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.