Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Tharsis Volcanoes and Valles Marineris, Mars
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-118, 11 April 1999
It is northern summer on Mars and clouds are very common over the
famous Tharsis volcanoes during the afternoon. At the far left, a
white patchy cloud denotes the location of Olympus Mons. Ascraeus Mons
is under the brightest cloud toward the center left, but the volcanoes
Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons (toward lower left below Ascraeus Mons)
have much less cloud cover. The patch of clouds toward the upper left
mark the location of the Alba Patera volcano. The Valles Marineris
trough system--so long that it would stretch across North America--is
seen in the lower third of this picture. This is a color composite of
9 red and 9 blue image strips taken by the Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera on 9 successive orbits
from pole-to-pole during the calibration phase of the
mission in March 1999. The color is computer-enhanced and
is not shown as it would actually appear to the human eye.
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.
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Contact: info@msss.com