Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Tharsis Wind Streaks
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-533, 3 November 2003
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
|
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture shows dark wind streaks on a plain east of Olympus Mons in the Tharsis region of Mars. Streaks such as these change from time to time over the course of a martian year, suggesting that they are the result of wind movement of a thin layer of bright dust. In other words, wind is not moving dark material to make the dark streaks, it is removing bright material (thin coatings of dust). This picture is located near 16.3°N, 127.7°W. The image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight from the upper 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.
To MSSS Home Page