Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Electric Polygons
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1523, 14 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows frost-enhanced polygonal features on the martian northern plains. A week or two before this springtime image was acquired, the entire surface was covered by carbon dioxide frost. As spring advances, the north polar seasonal frost cap edge retreats. It retreated through the area shown here, leaving only remnants of frost in the cracks and troughs that bound polar polygonal features. Within a few weeks of acquisition of this image, the scene would have been completely frost-free.

Location near: 68.5°N, 191.8°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Rabe Remnants
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1524, 15 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows remnants—buttes and knobs—of light-toned rock, perhaps sedimentary in origin, on the floor of Rabe Crater. The buttes and knobs are surrounded by dark, windblown sands that are crisscrossed dust devil tracks.

Location near: 44.0°S, 325.9°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Summer

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Ripple Belt
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1525, 16 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows windblown materials that have collected and been shaped into large ripples in a valley in the Auqakuh Vallis system in northeastern Arabia Terra, Mars.

Location near: 29.1°N, 299.6°W
Image width: ~2 km (~1.2 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Winter

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Yard Sale
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1526, 17 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a bright plain west of Schiaparelli Crater, Mars, which is host to several features, some of them long-lived and others that are transient. The circular features scattered somewhat randomly throughout the scene are impact craters, all of which are in a variety of states of degradation. In the lower left (southwest) corner of the image, there is a small hill surrounded by ripples of windblown sediment, and near the center of the image, there is an active dust devil casting a shadow to the east as it makes its way across the plain.

Location near: 5.9°S, 348.2°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Autumn

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Mars at Ls 79°
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1527, 18 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 79° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 79° occurs in mid-July 2006. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn.

Season: Northern Spring/Southern Autumn

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[twilightgirl]

just incredible!

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Defrosty Dunes
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1528, 19 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of a sand dune field in the north polar region of Mars. The dunes are covered with frozen carbon dioxide which accumulated over the autumn and winter months in the northern hemisphere. During the spring, the time at which this image was acquired, the carbon dioxide begins to sublime away, going directly from solid to gas, just as dry ice does here on Earth. The dark spots, streaked by blowing winds, may be places where the frost has been removed (exposing underlying dark sand), places where the grain size or roughness of the frost has increased (increasing shadowing due to the change in texture), or both.

Location near: 79.7°N, 148.3°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor Edited July 20, 2006 by Waspie_Dwarf

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Viking 1's 30th!
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1529, 20 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

Viking 1 landed 30 years ago today, on 20 July 1976. It was the first U.S. landing on Mars and a very exciting time for Mars exploration. Since that time, four additional spacecraft have successfully landed on Mars and conducted their science investigations. Today, new missions to the martian surface are in the works, with landings expected in 2008 (Phoenix) and 2010 (Mars Science Laboratory).

The Viking 1 lander is difficult to see in Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images. The western Chryse Planitia landing site is often obscured by dust hazes and occasional storms, especially during northern winter, which would otherwise be the best time to look for the lander from orbit because the sun casts longer shadows in winter. When the atmosphere is clearest, in portions of the spring and summer, the sun is higher in the sky as seen from MGS's orbit. The spacecraft always passes over the landing site region around 2 p.m. in the afternoon. The suite of pictures shown here describes the best MOC view of the landing site. These were previously released in May 2005, but the MOC team felt that 20 July 2006 is an appropriate time to review this story.

The first figure (left) visually tells how the lander was found. The initial observations of the location of Viking 1, as originally determined by members of the Viking science team based on sightlines to various crater rims seen in the lander images (black lines), did not show the detailed features we knew from the lander pictures (middle) to be in the area. Using geodetic measurements, the late Merton Davies of the RAND Corporation, a MGS MOC Co-Investigator, suggested that we should image areas to the east and north of where Viking 1 was thought to be. Timothy J. Parker of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, California), using sightlines to crater rims seen in the lander images (white lines), deduced a location very close to that suggested by Davies. The MOC image of that location, acquired in 2003, showed additional near-field features (rocks associated with a nearby crater) that closely matched the Viking 1 images (center and right frame, where B denotes "Volkswagen Rock"). The inset (upper right) is an enlargement that shows the location of the Viking 1 lander.

The MOC image of the Viking 1 lander site (right) was acquired during a test of the MGS Pitch and Roll Observation (PROTO) technique conducted on 11 May 2003. (Following initial tests, the "c" part of "cPROTO" was begun by adding compensation for the motion of the planet to the technique). The PROTO or cPROTO approach allows MOC to obtain images with better than its nominal 1.5 meters (5 ft) per pixel resolution. The image shown here (right) was map projected at 50 centimeters (~20 inches) per pixel. The full 11 May 2003 image can be viewed in the MOC Gallery, it is image R05-00966.

In addition to celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first U.S. robotic Mars landing, we note that 20 July is also the 37th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon, on 20 July 1969. There are two dates that are most sacred in the space business (three, if you count the 4 October 1957 launch of Sputnik 1). The other date is 12 April, which celebrates the 1961 launch of the first human in space, and the 1981 launch of the first space shuttle orbiter.

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor Edited March 29, 2007 by Waspie_Dwarf

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Ripples and Dunes
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1530, 21 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small portion of the floor of Kaiser Crater in the Noachis Terra region, Mars. The terrain in the upper (northern) half of the image is covered by large windblown ripples and a few smoother-surfaced sand dunes. The dominant winds responsible for these features blew from the west/southwest (left/lower left).

Location near: 47.2°S, 341.3°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Winter

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Spring Dunes
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1531, 22 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dunes in the north polar region of Mars. In this scene, the dunes, and the plain on which the dunes reside, are at least in part covered by a bright carbon dioxide frost. Dark spots indicate areas where the frost has begun to change, either by subliming away to expose dark sand, changing to a coarser particle size, or both. The winds responsible for the formation of these dunes blew from the lower left (southwest) toward the upper right (northeast).

Location near: 76.3°N, 261.2°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Syrian Volcano
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1532, 23 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small volcano in the Syria Planum region of Mars. Today, the lava flows that compose this small volcano are nearly hidden by a mantle of rough-textured, perhaps somewhat cemented, dust. The light-toned streaks that cross the scene were formed by passing dust devils, a common occurrence in Syria.

Location near: 13.0°S, 102.6°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Autumn

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Gullied Recesses
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1533, 24 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows gullies on the wall of a martian south mid-latitude impact crater. The channels in each gully head beneath an eroding overhang of layered rock, providing support for the hypothesis that some—if not all—martian gullies result from release of groundwater to the surface.

Location near: 33.0°S, 213.4°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Autumn

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Mars at Ls 79°
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1534, 25 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 79° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 79° occurred in mid-July 2006. The picture shows the Elysium/Mare Cimmerium face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn.

Season: Northern Spring/Southern Autumn

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Flooded Place
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1535, 26 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of a flood-carved canyon within the larger Kasei Valles system on Mars. This canyon is the result of the very last flood event that poured through the Kasei valleys, long ago.

Location near: 21.1°N, 72.6°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Stream, Inverted
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1536, 27 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the inverted, eroded remains of a channel—now standing as a complex ridge that runs across the middle of this scene—in dust-mantled terrain west of Sinus Meridiani, Mars. The original channel might have been carved by running water, but too little detail remains today to provide any certainty as to whether water was the culprit.

Location near: 5.6°N, 7.6°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Striped Scarp
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1537, 28 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a steep slope in the north polar region of Mars. The stripes indicate an exposure of layered material; the variations in brightness among the stripes are the result of varying amounts and textures on seasonal carbon dioxide frost. At the time the image was acquired in June 2006, the carbon dioxide frost was beginning to sublime way, leaving a variety of different patterns in frost distribution.

Location near: 85.2°N, 122.7°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Autumn Dunes
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1538, 29 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a field of dark sand dunes in an unnamed crater in the Noachis Terra/Hellespontus region of Mars. In southern autumn, the skies are generally clear and the sun comes in at a steep enough angle that martian dunes look especially striking.

Location near: 43.6°S, 320.4°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Autumn

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
On a Pedestal
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1539, 30 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a pedestal crater in the Eumenides Dorsum region of Mars. The rocky ejecta from this crater protected the underlying material from being eroded away by wind, leaving the crater standing high above the surrounding plains.

Location near: 11.9°N, 156.5°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Northern Pancake
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1540, 31 July 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a "pancake" or "pedestal" crater on the martian northern plains. The rocky ejecta from the crater protected the underlying material from being stripped away by wind, leaving the ejecta standing higher than the surrounding terrain. The rocks in the ejecta are not too clearly seen today, especially at the 6 meters (~20 feet) per pixel scale of this image, in part because they have been covered up by later, mantling material.

Location near: 60.0°N, 265.6°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Mr Slayer]

You sure have a thing with Mars

[Waspie_Dwarf]

You sure have a thing with Mars

No more so than any other planet, however with 4 spacecraft in orbit around Mars and 2 rovers on the surface their is a lot of information being gathered at the moment.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Mars at Ls 93°
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1541, 1 August 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 93° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 93° occurs in mid-August 2006. The picture shows the Tharsis face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn.

Season: Northern Summer/Southern Winter

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Slam!
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1542, 2 August 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an impact crater on the martian northern plains. This crater is roughly the size of the famous Meteor Crater in Arizona on the North American continent.

Location near: 43.0°N, 231.7°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Northern Gullies
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1543, 3 August 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a group of gullies formed on the equator-facing wall of a north mid-latitude crater. Gullies such as these might have formed from the erosive forces of liquid water.

Location near: 49.4°N, 56.1°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Radiant Bowl
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1544, 4 August 2006


Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Click on picture for high resolution image.

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a bowl-shaped crater on the martian northern plains with a mysterious radiant pattern of zones with and without boulders and rocks. The rocky areas are seen as dark dots, the rock-free areas lack these spots. Craters like this are fairly common on the northern plains; some also occur at a similar latitudes in the southern hemisphere. When the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) team first saw these, earlier this decade, they called them"pinwheel craters". The exact cause of the boulder and streak distribution is uncertain.

Location near: 61.3°N, 88.4°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Source: Malin Space Science Systems - Mars Global Surveyor