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PIA07152: Dunes of Herschel
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows dark, windblown sand dunes on the floor of Herschel Crater on Mars. The surfaces of the dunes have grooves eroded into them. This indicates that the sand is not loose, like it is in typical sand.
 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:  836 x 2322 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-953  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA07152.tif (1.943 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA07152.jpg (326.5 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:

27 December 2004
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark, windblown sand dunes on the floor of Herschel Crater. The surfaces of the dunes have grooves eroded into them. This indicates that the sand is not loose, like it is in typical sand dunes on Earth. Instead, the sand is cemented, and wind erosion has been slowly scouring the indurated sands away to create small-scale wind erosion features, known as yardangs. This picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across, and is located near 15.6°S, 229.0°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2004-12-27