Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Gullied Martian Slope
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-647, 25 February 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
Gullies cut material that mantles the slopes of a deep pit within a crater in Noachis Terra near 50.1°S, 356.4°W, in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image. Gully channels seem to originate at layer outcrops in the upper walls of the pit. These may have formed by downslope movement of liquid water mixed with debris in the geologically recent martian past. Similar gullies are found throughout much of the martian middle and high latitudes. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left; the picture 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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