Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Tithonium Dust Devil
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-766, 23 June 2004
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) captured this chance view of a dust devil (left of the center of the picture) near 2 p.m. local Mars time on 12 April 2004, in western Tithonium Chasma. The dark splotch to the right of the dust devil is its shadow. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/upper left. Tithonium is one of the troughs of the Valles Marineris system. The picture is located near 4.7°S, 89.1°W, and covers an area about 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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