Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Zephyria Outflow Features
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-866, 1 October 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 streamlined islands and a small cataract in an outflow channel system in the Zephyria region of Mars, south of Cerberus. The fluids responsible for creating these landforms flowed from the lower left (southwest) toward upper right (northeast). The fluids may have been water and mud or, some Mars scientists have argued, extremely fluid lava. The presence of a small cataract probably argues more strongly for a water and mud origin. This image is located near 3.8°N, 204.7°W. The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is illuminated by sunlight from 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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