Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Diacria Scene
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-900, 4 November 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 provides a representative view of the vast martian northern plains in the Diacria region near 52.8°N, 184.7°W. This is what the plains looked like in late northern spring in August 2004, after the seasonal winter frost had sublimed away and dust devils began to leave dark streaks on the surface. Many of the dark dust devil streaks in this image are concentrated near a low mound---the location of a shallowly-filled and buried impact crater. The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene 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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