PIA01439: Mars Orbiter Camera Views the "Face on Mars" - Best View from Viking


Mars Orbiter Camera Views the “Face on Mars” - Best View from Viking

Caption:

Shortly after midnight Sunday morning (5 April 1998 12:39 AM PST), the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft successfully acquired a high resolution image of the "Face on Mars" feature in the Cydonia region. The image was transmitted to Earth on Sunday, and retrieved from the mission computer data base Monday morning (6 April 1998). The image was processed at the Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) facility 9:15 AM and the raw image immediately transferred to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for release to the Internet. The images shown here were subsequently processed at MSSS.

The picture was acquired 375 seconds after the spacecraft's 220th close approach to Mars. At that time, the "Face," located at approximately 40.8° N, 9.6° W, was 275 miles (444 km) from the spacecraft. The "morning" sun was 25° above the horizon. The picture has a resolution of 14.1 feet (4.3 meters) per pixel, making it ten times higher resolution than the best previous image of the feature, which was taken by the Viking Mission in the mid-1970's. The full image covers an area 2.7 miles (4.4 km) wide and 25.7 miles (41.5 km) long.

This Viking Orbiter image is one of the best Viking pictures of the area Cydonia where the "Face" is located. Marked on the image are the "footprint" of the high resolution (narrow angle) Mars Orbiter Camera image and the area seen in enlarged views (dashed box). See PIA01440-1442 for these images in raw and processed form.

Background Info:

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, CA. 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, CA and Denver, CO.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Viking
Instrument Host Mars Global Surveyor
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
Detector
Extra Keywords Dust, Grayscale
Acquisition Date
Release Date 1998-07-03
Date in Caption 1998-04-05 1998-04-06
Image Credit NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01439
Identifier PIA01439