Status Report

NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polar Mesas and Hills

By SpaceRef Editor
April 4, 2004
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Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-686, 4 April 2004




NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a mesa and two hills–each of them a remnant of
formerly more extensive layered material–in the south polar
region of Mars. The dark streaks were formed by passing
dust devils. This picture is located
near 64.6°S, 340.5°W.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
Sunlight illuminates the scene 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.

SpaceRef staff editor.