Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Spring Thaw in Northwestern Planum Australe
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-252, 16 October 2000
Planum Australe---the Plains of the South. Patchy frost lingers late
into martian spring in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter
Camera (MOC) wide angle view from November 25, 1999. Spring would give
way to summer in only 1 month, on December 25, 1999. The surfaces
underneath the frost have different properties---some get warmer while
others stay cold---thus causing frost to linger on colder surfaces and
sublime away from warmer surfaces, leaving the dazzling, almost
psychadelic pattern seen at the center of this image. Circular
features in this view are old craters formed by meteor impact. The
brightest patches within most of these circles are fields of
sand dunes covered by frost. The center of this scene is near 78°S,
135°W; north is toward the upper right. Illumination is from the
upper left. The image covers an area 110 km (68 mi) across by 590 km
(367 mi) down. This is a color composite of MOC wide angle camera
images M09-06029 (red) and M09-06030 (blue). To see what the raw MOC
image data look like, visit the newest data releases (for Mission
Subphases M07 - M12, covering September 1999 through February 2000) in
the MOC GALLERY at http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/.
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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