NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Streaks and Lava Flows

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-748, 5 June 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
picture shows alternating light and dark wind streaks
superimposed over a rugged lava flow surface on the west
flank of the volcano, Ascraeus Mons. A chain of
pits in the upper half of the image mark the location of
a collapsed lava tube.
The image is located
near 11.6°N, 105.5°W, and
covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. The
scene is illuminated by sunlight from the lower 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.