NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polar Terrain 17-19-2004
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-792, 19 July 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This full-resolution (1.5 meters, 5 feet, per pixel)
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows mesa tops and depressions formed in
layered carbon dioxide ice in the south polar
residual cap. The image is located
near 87.0°S, 341.9°W, and
covers an area about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) wide.
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.