Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Apsus Vallis Region
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-734, 22 May 2004
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 light-toned, windblown ripples on the floors of channels of the Apsus Vallis system. The fluid responsible for forming the valleys is unknown; it might have been water. No primary landforms, other than the channels themselves, have been preserved in a way that would indicate the nature of the fluid that carved the valleys. Apsus Vallis is located just west of the Elysium volcanic region; the area in the picture is located near 35.5°N, 225.6°W. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight 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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