Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)



The Spacecraft


Figure caption

Read about the MGS Science Objectives here





A selection of images from MGS's Mars Orbiter Camera



Layered rock deep in martian crust




  Figure caption


Sedimentary Rocks




  West Candor Chasma
  (Mariner 9 and Viking)


  Figure caption

  West Candor Chasma
  (zoom with MOC)


  Figure caption



Groundwater, co2 and gullies





Groundwater may be the source for erosion in martian gullies. Another possibility is that under direct sunlight, CO2 frost incorporated into a martian sand dune could sublime. This CO2 gas may act to fluidize overlying sand, causing it to flow rather than avalanche, and thus create a gully.





  Figure caption
  Figure caption





But when did that happen ?






 New gullies forming in the last 5 years
 (larger view)


   Full resolution image (3.5 MB)
   Figure caption

 New gullies forming in the last 5 years
 (already present on images of Feb. 21, 2004)


   Figure caption




  New Dune Gullies
  (larger view)


  Figure caption

  New Dune Gullies
  (detail)


  Figure caption

  Gullies With Light-Toned Deposits


  Figure caption




  Gullies and Avalanches


  Figure caption

See more than 100 gully pictures here.




Eberswalde delta





  Eberswalde delta (context map)


  Figure caption
  
  

  Eberswalde delta


  Figure caption
  
  

  River reconstruction


  Figure caption
  Only the 11 avulsions
  (Credit: J. P. Bhattacharya1)


  Close-up view of meanders


  Figure caption

  Close-up view of channels


  Figure caption



All the MOC pictures






See more than 212'000 images of
the Mars Orbiter Camera here.





Topographic maps of mars





  Topographic map


  Full resolution
  Figure caption

  Rectangular Projection


  Full resolution
  Figure caption


  


  Full resolution (15.9 MB)
  Full resolution with contours (15.7 MB)
  Figure caption

   Snow on Mars


  Animation caption




In a distant past, Mars may have had oceans



   What Mars might have looked like,
   ... with oceans !


  Figure caption










background photo: Gullies eroded into the wall of a meteor impact crater in Noachis Terra (Credit: MGS, NASA).
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/june2000/scicover/index.html