Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Utopia Cracks and Polygons

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-339, 23 April 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a pattern of polygonal cracks and aligned, elliptical pits in western Utopia Planitia. The picture covers an area about 3 km (about 1.9 mi) wide near 44.9°N, 274.7°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the 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.

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