NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Yardangs in Gordii Dorsum Region

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-641, 19 February 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Yardangs are wind erosion features shaped somewhat
like inverted boat hulls. Yardangs are common on Mars, as
wind is the most erosive agent acting today on this desert planet.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows an example located in the vicinity of the Gordii Dorsum
near 4.2°S, 159.9°W.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left; the
picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.

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.