Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

South Polar Terrain

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-792, 19 July 2004


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This full-resolution (1.5 meters, 5 feet, per pixel) Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows mesa tops and depressions formed in layered carbon dioxide ice in the south polar residual cap. The image is located near 87.0°S, 341.9°W, and covers an area about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.


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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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