Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Chasma Boreale Dunes

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-354, 8 May 2003


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

In this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image, wind has streaked a field of defrosting sand dunes in Chasma Boreale in the martian north polar region. Dune slip faces--the steep slope formed by avalanching sand on each dune--and the dark streaks indicate that wind transports sediment from the lower left toward the upper right. The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide near 84.6°N, 358.5°W. 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.

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