Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
South Polar Layers
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-678, 27 March 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This 1.5 meter per pixel (5 ft./pixel) Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows south polar layers exposed on the slopes of a mesa near 74.2°S, 244.6°W. These layers were once more extensive across the region, today only this and a few other remnants remain. The dark streaks were created by spring and summer dust devils that swept across the layered mesa with little regard to the changes in topography. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene 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.
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