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Mars Orbiter Camera Shows Broken Icy Slopes of Martian Polar Region
By Greg Clark
Staff Writer
posted: 12:51 pm ET
22 November 1999
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The operators of the Mars Orbiter Camera on board the Mars Global Surveyor have released the most detailed picture yet taken of the martian polar layered terrain -- the enigmatic ground that will be the target of the Mars Polar Lander's investigations whThe operators of the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard the Mars Global Surveyor have released the most detailed picture yet taken of the martian polar layered terrain -- the enigmatic ground that will be the target of the Mars Polar Lander's investigations when it arrives there Dec. 3. The pictures show the border area along the edge of the terrain. They reveal the scores of layered ridges that seem to have built up on top of the martian surface near the southern pole. The highest-resolution images show ground features as small as automobiles, features which appear as tiny bumps or holes. 
The image above shows the nothern edge of Mars' polar layered terrain in the planet's southern hemisphere. This image shows a region about 340 miles (550 kilometers) northwest from the site where the Mars Polar Lander is scheduled to touch down Dec. 3. The picture below outlines the area covered by the above image. See images at the bottom of the story for more detailed views. Credit: NASA, JPL and Malin Space Science Systems. The polar layered terrain has intrigued scientists since it was first detected in the early 1970s by the Mariner 9 spacecraft. Unlike the rest of Mars, which is heavily pocked with craters, the polar regions are quite smooth, indicating the surfaces are relatively young. Many scientists think the layers are accumulations of dust and ice that may have built up during thousands of years. Whatever the regions are made of, most agree that the layered terrain can serve as a window into the planet's climate history. One of the big mysteries, though, is whether the layers are fresh and fee of impact craters because they are continually building up, or whether they are young because the top layers are being eroded away, by weather that is steadily uncovering new surface material. That is one of the questions that the Mars Polar Lander mission may help scientists answer, said Mike Malin, a planetary geologist and founder of Malin Space Science Systems, which built the Mars Orbiter Camera for the global surveyor. Malin is also the builder of a camera aboard the Mars Polar Lander. The Mars Descent Imager attached to the bottom of the lander will take pictures as the craft descends through Mars' atmosphere and comes to rest near the planet's south pole. 
This image from the Mars Global Surveyor's orbiting camera covers an area about 71 miles (115 kilometers) across. The polar layered deposits seen at the top of the image cover the underlying surface, which is seen at the bottom of the picture. The circular features at the bottom of the picture are craters. The rectangular box outlines the area seen in detail above. Credit: NASA, JPL and Malin Space Science Systems.
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