Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Have a Nice Spring! MOC Revisits "Happy Face" Crater
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-175, 30 August 1999
Smile! Spring has sprung in the martian southern hemisphere. With it comes
the annual retreat of the winter polar frost cap. This view of
"Happy Face Crater"---officially named "Galle Crater"---shows patches of
white water ice frost in and around the crater's south-facing slopes. Slopes
that face south will retain frost longer than north-facing slopes because
they do not receive as much sunlight in early spring. This picture is a
composite of images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
red and blue wide angle cameras. The wide angle cameras were designed to
monitor the changing weather, frost, and wind patterns on Mars. Galle
Crater is located on the east rim of the Argyre Basin and is about
215 kilometers (134 miles) across. In this picture, illumination is
from the upper left and north is up.
For a higher resolution view of this figure (575 Kbytes),
Click HERE.
Other Views of "Happy Face" Crater:
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