NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Valley near Nilus Chaos

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-504, 5 October 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This August 2003
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a valley near Nilus Chaos, around
25.2°N, 80.3°W. The scene has a uniform albedo,
indicating that all of the landforms are probably mantled
by fine, bright dust. Dark streaks on the valley walls
indicate places where recent dust avalanches have occurred.
The ripple-like dune features on the valley floor were
formed by wind, but today they are inactive and covered
with dust. A few craters, created by impacting debris,
have formed on the dunes, again attesting to their
inactivity in the modern martian environment.
The image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide; it 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.