Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
"Sharks Teeth" -- Sand Dunes in Proctor Crater
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-274, 31 January 2001
Sometimes, pictures received from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter
Camera (MOC) are "just plain pretty." This image, taken in early
September 2000, shows a group of sand dunes at the edge of a much larger
field of dark-toned dunes in Proctor Crater. Located at 47.9°S,
330.4°W, in the 170 km- (106 mi-) diameter crater named for 19th Century
British astronomer Richard A. Proctor (1837-1888), the dunes shown here are
created by winds blowing largely from the east/northeast.
A plethora of smaller, brighter ripples covers the substrate between the
dunes. Sunlight illuminates
them from the upper left. Other dunes in Proctor Crater were highlighted
in August 1999 in:
"Dune Activity in Proctor Crater," MOC2-170.
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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