NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Windblown Sand in Briault

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-729, 17 May 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows low, broad sand dunes and sheets in southern
Briault Crater
near 10.1°S, 270.7°W. In this case, winds have swept
up all available sand in Briault Crater, and moved it toward
the south side of the basin. The wind streak pattern of these
landforms indicates that the dominant winds blow from the north
(top) toward the south.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and
is illuminated by sunlight from the 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.