3 June 2005
On 17 May 2005, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars
Orbiter Camera (MOC) acquired its 200,000th image since the spacecraft
began orbiting Mars on 12 September 1997. This red wide angle context
frame was acquired at the same time as the narrow angle image (see
PIA07995 showing details on the floor and in the ejecta blanket of a
northern middle-latitude martian crater, which was received on Earth the
previous day).
This image marks a milestone for the Mars Global Surveyor mission, which
has returned nearly four times the number of images of both the Viking 1
and Viking 2 orbiters, combined, in the late 1970s. An additional point
of comparison, the two Viking camera systems returned about 70 Gbytes of
data; MOC thus far has returned 365 Gbytes (after decompression).
The MOC is really a system consisting of three cameras: (1) a narrow
angle camera, essentially a telescope, that obtains extremely high
resolution views ranging from about 0.5 to about 14 meters per pixel; (2)
a red wide angle camera that is used to take context images, daily global
maps, and other selected images; and (3) a blue wide angle camera that
also acquires daily global maps, views of the martian limb, and other
selected targets. Both wide angle cameras can obtain images with
resolutions in the range of 0.24 to 7.5 kilometers per pixel.
The first images acquired by MOC were taken during the third orbit of MGS
on 15 September 1997. MGS conducted a pre-mission series of observations
between mid-September 1997 and February 1999. Then, MGS conducted its 1
Mars year Primary Mission from March 1999 through January 2001. The
Extended Mission phase for MGS began in February 2001 and continues to
this day.
Location near: 32.7°N, 185.1°W
Image width: ~115 km (~71 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Autumn
