NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Wind Streak in Acidalia

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-705, 23 April 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Thin deposits of bright dust often form tails in the lee
of craters in Acidalia Planitia.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
picture shows an example from southern Acidalia
near 23.0°N, 39.6°W. The dominant winds blow from
the upper right (northeast) toward the lower left (southwest).
The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
Sunlight illuminates the scene 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.