PIA02176: South Polar Terrain
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows cracked surfaces in the south polar layered terrain of Mars. The cracks in this scene have formed complex dendritic arrays.
 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 1464 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1370  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA02176.tif (985 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA02176.jpg (193.4 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

11 February 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows cracked surfaces in the south polar layered terrain of Mars. The cracks in this scene have formed complex dendritic arrays. Evidence of the fracture networks is clear in the topmost layer, however, close inspection reveals traces of apparently older networks in the underlying layers.

Location near: 79.1°S, 194.2°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Summer

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2006-02-11