Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Rippled Dune
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-875, 10 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 ripples on the surface of a dune in a crater west of Sinus Meridiani near 2.5°N, 9.3°W. Most martian dune surfaces do not show ripples at the scale of MOC images---a higher resolution (better than 15 cm/pixel) view would be needed. These ripples are probably not typical sand ripples; they may be coarser-grained granule ripples (usually made up, in part, of grains 1-4 millimeters in size). The light-toned features in the image are wind-eroded outcrops of sedimentary rock. The image covers an area about 1.5 km (~0.9 mi) wide. 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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