Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Chain of Pits

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1116, 8 June 2005


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a chain of pits associated with dust-covered lava flows in northern Tharsis. The pits formed along a fault; some of the flows may have erupted along this same fault.
Location near: 23.4°N, 110.6°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Autumn


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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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