NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Syrtis Plain
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1521, 12 July 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows terrain southwest of Meroe Patera in Syrtis Major Planum, Mars. Wind streaks formed in the lee—i.e., the downwind side—of impact craters are common throughout the scene, including the small impact crater near the center of the image with light-toned ejecta radiating outward from its rim. Near the bottom (south) of the image, three light-toned slope streaks, created by dry mass movements of dust, extend down the sloping side walls of two overlapping impact craters. |
| Location near: 5.3°N, 295.4°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower left |
| Season: Northern Winter |
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.
