Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Intracrater Dune Field
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-458, 20 August 2003
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a field of dark sand dunes trapped on the floor of a crater near Cerberus at 8.6°N, 190.9°W. The local winds within the crater have shaped these dunes such that they all reflect a general trend of sand transport toward the west and southwest (left/lower left). This image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/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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