NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Southern Terrain
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1350, 22 January 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an eroded landscape in the south polar region of Mars. Layered material has been exposed to create a complex pattern of steps and low, isolated mesas. The material has also been cracked, and semi-parallel ridges on some of the ‘stairsteps’ may be old, windblown ripples. |
Location near: 86.0°S, 182.1°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.
