Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Gradual Contact Between North Polar Ice and Layers
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-215, 8 March 2000
This picture is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left.
The lower half of the scene slopes down toward the lower left.
In this image, the north polar residual cap surface (white) is seen
to grade downhill into exposures of layered terrain. The
layers are the dark, bumpy bands in the lower 2/3 of the
picture. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
covers an area only 750 meters (820 yards) wide by 2.5 kilometers
(1.6 miles) long at a resolution of 1.8 meters (6 feet) per pixel.
The scene occurs near 85.9°N,
258.1°W and was taken during northern summer on
April 13, 1999.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
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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