Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-572, 12 December 2003
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
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Mie Crater, a large basin formed by asteroid or comet
impact in Utopia Planitia, lies at the center of this
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
red wide angle image. The crater is approximately
104 km (65 mi) across. To the east and southeast (toward
the lower right) of Mie, in this 5 December 2003 view,
are clouds of dust and water ice kicked up by local
dust storm activity. It is mid-winter in the northern
hemisphere of Mars, a time when passing storms are
common on the northern plains of the red planet.
Sunlight illuminates this image from
the lower left; Mie Crater is located at 48.5°N, 220.3°W.
Viking 2 landed west/southwest of Mie Crater, off the left
edge of this image, in September 1976.
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology
built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission.
MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, California.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena,
California and Denver, Colorado.
