Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Arabia's Auqakuh Vallis
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-477, 8 September 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 portion of southern Auqakuh Vallis in northeastern Arabia Terra. The floor of this ancient valley---which might have been carved by a liquid such as water---is today covered by large, windblown, ripple-like bedforms. The terrain surrounding the valley has been eroded such that only remnants of former craters and layered bedrock remain. The valley was once much deeper, but material of hundreds, if not thousands, of meters thickness has been removed. This picture is located near 28.9°N, 299.9°W; it covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight 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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