Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Eastern Cerberus

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-423, 16 July 2003


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the dark, wind-streaked plains of eastern Cerberus, located southeast of the Elysium volcanoes. The dark, diagonal lines are the Cerberus Fossae, a series of cracks where the surface of Mars has literally split open. This composite of red and blue MOC wide angle images was obtained in June 2003. The center of this view is located at 12.5°N, 201°W. North is up, east is to the right, and 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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