NASA Mars Picture of the Day: South Polarscape
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1412, 25 March 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a spectacular summertime view of a portion of the south polar residual cap. Large, semi-continuous mesas are separated by circular and other oddly-shaped depressions. These features are all formed in frozen carbon dioxide; the scarps which bound the mesas and pit walls retreat at a rate of about 3 meters (a little more than 3 yards) each martian southern summer. |
| Location near: 87.7°S, 357.3°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: upper left |
| Season: Southern Summer |
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.
