Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Clouds near Icaria Planum

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-430, 23 July 2003


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Like Earth, the martian atmosphere has clouds. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows small, puffy, water ice clouds over a cratered terrain near Icaria Planum. Illuminated by sunlight from the upper left, these small clouds cast shadows on the ground toward the lower right. This center of this image is near 31°S, 113°W. The picture was taken using MOC's blue wide angle camera.

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.

To MSSS Home Page