PIA06858: North Polar Cap
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a typical martian north polar ice cap texture. The surface is pitted and rough at the scale of several meters. The north polar residual cap consists mainly of water ice, while the south cap is mostly carbon dioxide.
 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:  683 x 1024 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-842  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA06858.tif (700.4 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA06858.jpg (223.5 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:

7 September 2004
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a 1.4 m/pixel (~5 ft/pixel) view of a typical martian north polar ice cap texture. The surface is pitted and rough at the scale of several meters. The north polar residual cap of Mars consists mainly of water ice, while the south polar residual cap is mostly carbon dioxide. This picture is located near 85.2°N, 283.2°W. The image covers an area approximately 1 km wide by 1.4 km high (0.62 by 0.87 miles). Sunlight illuminates this scene from the lower left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2004-09-07