[meteorite-list] Mars Global Surveyor Image of the Week - October 10, 2006

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Oct 10 13:53:21 2006
Message-ID: <200610101751.KAA27509_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR
Image of the Week
October 10, 2006

The following new image taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on
the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft is now available:

o Summertime View of North Polar Sand Dunes (Released 10 October 2006)
  http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/10/10

Image Caption:
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a
suite of dunes in one of the several north polar dune fields. The bright
surfaces adjacent to some of the dunes are patches of frost. These dunes
spend much of the autumn, winter, and spring seasons covered with carbon
dioxide frost. Only in late spring and in summer are the dark windblown
sands fully exposed.

Over the course of the 9+ years of the MGS mission, the MOC team has
sought evidence that sand dunes may be migrating downwind over time.
However, no clear examples of the movement of a whole dune have been
identified. On Earth, such movement is typically detectable in air
photos of the smallest active dunes over periods of a few years. Owing
to the fact that the north polar dunes spend much of each martian year
under a cover of frost, perhaps these move much more slowly than their
frost-free, terrestrial counterparts. The sand may also be somewhat
cemented by ice or minerals, likewise preventing vigorous dune migration
in the present environment.

This view covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is
illuminated by sunlight from the lower left. The dunes are located
near 79.8N, 127.1W, and the picture was acquired on 11 September 2006.

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All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived here:

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/index.html

Mars Global Surveyor was launched in November 1996 and has been
in Mars orbit since September 1997. It began its primary
mapping mission on March 8, 1999. Mars Global Surveyor is the
first mission in a long-term program of Mars exploration known as
the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by JPL for NASA's Office
of Space Science, Washington, DC. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS)
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.
Received on Tue 10 Oct 2006 01:51:53 PM PDT