Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Lyot Crater in Winter
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-610, 19 January 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This somewhat oblique Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) red wide angle view of Lyot Crater and the mesas of the Deuteronilus Mensae was acquired in January 2004 on the day after the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, landed in Gusev Crater on the other side of the planet. It is winter in the northern hemisphere of Mars, and winter for Lyot Crater means clouds. The brighter features in the atmosphere above the surface in this image are clouds. Lyot Crater is about 236 km (~147 mi.) in diameter. The center of this image is near 48.5°N, 331.0°W, and is illuminated 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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