Catalog Page for PIA02010

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PIA02010: Marte Vallis Textures

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor captured the platy flow surfaces in the Marte Vallis region of Mars on March 20, 2006.

Target Name:	Mars
Is a satellite of:	Sol (our sun)
Mission:	Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
Spacecraft:	Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
Instrument:	Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
Product Size:	672 x 1275 pixels (w x h)
Produced By:	Malin Space Science Systems
Producer ID:	MOC2-1407
Full-Res TIFF:	PIA02010.tif (857.9 kB)
Full-Res JPEG:	PIA02010.jpg (202.7 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

20 March 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows platy flow surfaces in the Marte Vallis region of Mars. The origin of the flows is not well-understood, but as some Mars scientists have suggested, the flows may be the product of low viscosity (very fluid), high temperature volcanic eruptions, or perhaps they are the remains of large-scale mud flows. In either case, the materials are solid and hold a record of small meteor impact craters, thus indicating that they are not composed of ice, as still others have speculated.

Location near: 6.7°N, 182.0°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Winter

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:

2006-03-20