Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Gullies in Crater Wall

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-388, 11 June 2003


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Many craters and troughs at polar and middle latitudes on Mars have gullies carved in their walls. These gullies may have formed by running water; others have suggested alternative, exotic fluids such as liquid or gaseous carbon dioxide. This view of martian gullies was acquired by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). The image shows gullies in the wall of an old meteor impact crater near 39.0°S, 200.7°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper 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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