This nearly global mosaic of observations made by the Mars Color Imager on
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on April 2, 2009, shows billowing
clouds of dust being lifted into the atmosphere by a storm near the edge
of the seasonal polar cap of southern Mars.
The season on southern Mars is late spring. Late southern spring and early
southern summer are a peak time of the Martian year for major dust storms.
Atmospheric haze due to suspended dust from recent storm activity is
evident elsewhere on the planet, including the skies over Mars rovers
Opportunity (MER-B) and Spirit (MER-A).
Black areas in the mosaic are the result of data drops or high angle roll
maneuvers by the orbiter that limit the camera's view of the planet.
Equally-spaced blurry areas that run from south-to-north (bottom-to-top)
result from the high off-nadir viewing geometry, a product of the
spacecraft's low-orbit.
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, provided and operates the Mars
Color Imager. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the
project and built the spacecraft.