NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Streamlined “Island”

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-922, 26 November 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This October 2004
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a streamlined landform in the Mangala Valles
region of Mars. An ancient catastrophic flood, probably
consisting of water and debris, ran northward (from the bottom
toward the top of the image) in this portion of the Mangala
Valles system. The high mesa at the south end of the
streamlined form may have been above the floodwaters.
Its presence as an obstacle to the flow caused erosion and
deposition of sediment to create the teardrop-shaped,
tapered form in its lee. This feature is located
near 15.0°S, 149.3°W.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and
is illuminated by sunlight 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.