Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Valley Floor
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-529, 30 October 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 the floor of an ancient valley located near the Pyrrhae Chaos region of Mars. This valley might have been carved by liquid water, but today no evidence remains that a fluid ever flowed through it. Long after the valley formed, its floor was covered by large, windblown, ripple-like dunes. This picture is located near 13.0°S, 31.2°W. The image is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
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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