MGS Views of Labyrinthus Noctis
This is MOC frame P005_03, a subset of PIA00941. MOC image
P005_03 was acquired at 6:25 AM PDT on September 19, 1997,
about 11 minutes after Mars Global Surveyor passed close to the
planet for the fifth time. During the imaging period, the spacecraft
was canted towards the sunlit hemisphere by 25°, and the MOC was
obliquely viewing features about 1600 km (1000 miles) away.
The resolution at that distance was about 6 meters (20 feet) per
picture element (pixels), but in order to improve the number of gray
levels, the pixels were summed in both the cross-track and
along-track directions, yielding final resolution of about 12 meters
(40 feet) per pixel. The MOC image covers an area about 12 km X 12 km (7.5 X 7.5 miles).
Labyrinthus Noctis is near the crest of a large (many thousands of kilometers)
updoming of the Martian crust, and the 2000 meter (6500 foot) deep
canyons visible in these pictures are bounded by faults. Debris shed
from the steep slopes has moved down into after the canyons opened.
Small dunes are seen in the lowest area, beneath the high cliffs.
Launched on November 7, 1996, Mars Global Surveyor entered Mars
orbit on Thursday, September 11, 1997. The spacecraft has been
using atmospheric drag to reduce the size of its orbit for the past
three weeks, and will achieve a circular orbit only 400 km (248 mi)
above the surface early next year. Mapping operations begin in
March 1998. At that time, MOC narrow angle images will be 5-10 times
higher resolution than these pictures.
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.
Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
MRPS #84698 100197_2 503.str/MOC211B 559142748.503 P005_03
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