Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

North Polar Dunes

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-957, 31 December 2004


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark sand dunes in the north polar region of Mars. They are streaming away (toward the left) from a low escarpment at the edge of an outlier of polar water ice (the bright area on the right). The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is located near 80.7°N, 80.2°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower 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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