NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Wind Streaks Near Schiaparelli

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-850, 15 September 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Mars is a desert world. Today, wind is the most powerful
agent of change.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows streak patterns made by wind as it distributed
and re-distributed dark sediment across a light-toned
substrate. This image is located west of Schiaparelli Crater
near 1.0°S, 347.6°W,
and covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
The scene is illuminated by sunlight from the left/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.