Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Exhumed Flows

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1029, 13 March 2005


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows exhumation of flow surfaces from beneath a material that was eroded by wind in the Cerberus/Zephyria region. The origin of the flow material has been a subject of debate among Mars scientists; it may have been very fluid lava or mud flows. In either case the material was buried for some time.
Location near: 4.2°N, 207.9°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Northern Summer


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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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