NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Waning Polar Cap
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1493, 14 June 2006
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the outer edge of the south polar residual cap of Mars. During summer, the scarps that delineate the sides of the mesas, retreat (on average) by about 3 meters (~10 feet) owing to the sublimation of solid carbon dioxide. |
| Location near: 85.6°S, 349.8°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.
