NASA Orbiter Camera Team Begins Daily Mars Picture Postings

April 15, 2003

The camera team for NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission is beginning daily Internet postings of pictures that showcase the rich diversity of martian landscapes.

The first "Mars Orbiter Camera Picture of the Day" shows frost-covered sand dunes in the springtime as they begin to defrost. It is available online at the camera team's Web site where a different picture will be posted every day, including weekends and holidays: http://www.msss.com.

The site will soon add other new features for the public enjoyment of pictures from Mars, said Dr. Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mars Orbital Camera on Global Surveyor. It already offers access to more than 123,800 images of Mars. The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since September 1997.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, which developed and operates the spacecraft. The Mars Orbiter Camera is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego.

Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is available online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/. For more information about NASA and other space science programs on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov.

JPL/Guy Webster (818) 354-6278
2003-053