Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Exhumed Ridge Pattern
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-490, 21 September 2003
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
The lower half of this June 2003 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture shows an array of ridges arranged in a somewhat polygonal pattern. These ridges are being exhumed from within a blanket of material that covers the region south (toward the bottom) of this image. The origin of the ridges is not known; they might, for example, have started out as cracks and joints in the overlying material that became filled with coarser or cemented material that was left standing as solid ridges when the overlying sediment was eroded away. This picture is located near 11.0°N, 147.8°W, and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across. 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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