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The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) first acquired images of Mars during its approach to the red planet in mid-1997. The spacecraft began orbiting Mars in September 1997. Following a period of aerobraking to achieve a nearly-circular, nearly-polar orbit, MGS began systematic mapping operations in March 1999. The primary mission was conducted for one Mars year, through January 2001. An extended mission phase followed and the spacecraft and MOC were active until 2 November 2006, when communication with the spacecraft was lost. If the spacecraft is recovered, the mission is expected to operate through at least September 2007.
More than 1,600 MOC images with captions describing their contents have been compiled and released by the MOC team at Malin Space Science Systems since 1997. The links below provide access to these captioned releases.
Click on one of the links below for an index, with icons, of images released during that month.
© 2006 by Malin Space Science Systems, Inc., San Diego, California, U.S.A.