PIA08722: Tiled Floor
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows cracks formed in the material that nearly fills an impact crater on the martian northern plains.
 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 2161 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-1573  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA08722.tif (1.454 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA08722.jpg (246 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:

2 September 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows polygonal cracks formed in the material that nearly fills an impact crater on the martian northern plains. The light-toned patches in the cracks are the remains of ice, left over from the preceding winter. On Earth, polygons such as these are most common in the polar regions, and form in the presence of ground ice. Whether the same is true for Mars remains to be determined, but, certainly, this is a good possibility.

Location near: 65.7°N, 277.5°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: lower left
Season: Northern Spring

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2006-09-02