Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Dunes in Herschel Crater
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-294, 30 October 2001
Herschel Crater is a 300 kilometer (186 mi) wide impact basin
located in the martian southern cratered highlands at 14.5°S,
230°W. The floor of this ancient crater exhibits patches of
dark material that, when viewed by the high resolution Mars
Orbiter Camera (MOC) aboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft,
resolve into fields of sand dunes. In detail, these dunes have a grooved,
lineated surface. These grooves indicate that the dune sands are
cemented together and have been eroded and scoured by wind. The age
of the dunes and how their sands became cemented are unknown.
Sunlight illuminates this March 2001 scene from the upper left. The box in
the upper left corner shows the location of the high resolution view,
the 400 m scale bar is ~437 yards.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
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,
CA. 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, CA
and Denver, CO.
To MSSS Home Page
