Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Mars Surfaces at 15.6°N Latitude, March 1999
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-85, 10 March 1999
This set of 12 images was obtained during the period of
Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) focus tests and calibrations that executed
in the first week of March 1999. Each picture was taken near 15.6°N
latitude, which at this time was the sub-Earth point--the latitude at
which Earth would be seen directly overhead if viewed from the ground.
These pictures were obtained to provide a direct link between
simultaneous Earth- and space-based telescope observations and the
MOC. Each picture is shown at
the full commanded resolution of 12 meters (39 feet)
per pixel, and each covers an area 3 by 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) in
size with illumination from the upper left. Typically, images
that will be obtained by MOC during the Mapping Phase of the Mars
Global Surveyor mission will have resolutions
of 1.5 meters (5 feet) per pixel--a factor of 8 improvement over
the pictures shown here.
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,
CA. 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, CA
and Denver, CO.
To MSSS Home Page
Contact: info@msss.com