Pictures of intriguing Martian features such as dust
storms, dust devils, 3-D sand dunes, a recent image of “the
face,” and dark streaks that may be caused by dust avalanches
have been released by the imaging team for NASA’s Mars Global
Surveyor spacecraft that have been taken during the extended
mission phase that began February 1, 2001.
The newly released images are products of the main
objectives for the camera team during the extended mission,
including:
– Continued daily monitoring of Martian weather, storms,
and polar cap changes;– Looking for changes caused by frost, wind, slope
movements, and gully action with the high-resolution camera;– The opportunity to take a second look at features
previously seen by the camera by turning and pointing the
spacecraft to provide “3-D” (stereoscopic) views of certain
areas;– Collecting pictures of other geologic features of
interest, including sites being considered for the two 2003
Mars Exploration Roverlandings.
The images are available at these sites:
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/extended_may2001/
Mars Global Surveyor is managed by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington,
D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena. The Mars Orbiter Camera is operated by
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif.
