NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle daily global images shows a north polar dust storm on March 7, 2003. Similar late summer storms occurred nearly every day from late February well into April 2003; these were also seen in late summer in 1999 and 2001. The white features at the top of the image are the water ice surfaces of the north polar residual cap. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower 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.