This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington               April 4, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Guy Webster 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-0880)

RELEASE: 03-133

PROLIFIC NASA ORBITER ADDS THOUSANDS OF PHOTOS TO MARS ALBUM 

     The winds of Mars leave their marks on many of the 
11,664 new pictures being posted on the Internet today by the 
camera team for NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) mission.

In one image the pattern of sand dunes on a patch of 
southern-hemisphere desert resembles scales on a fish. On a 
larger scale, full-globe Mars images show wispy water ice 
clouds shaped by winds as the seasons change. Other new 
images reveal details of features such as gullies, landslides 
and seasonal frost.

The new batch, taken between February and July 2002, brings 
the total number of images in the online gallery to more than 
123,800.

MGS has been orbiting the red planet since Sept. 12, 1997. 
The mission has examined the entire Mars surface and provided 
a wealth of information about the planet's atmosphere and 
interior. Evaluation of landing sites for two Mars 
Exploration Rover missions, due to launch in the next three 
months, has relied heavily on mineral mapping, detailed 
imagery and topographic measurements by Global Surveyor.

"The extraordinary wealth of information contained in this 
unprecedented release of new views of Mars attests to the 
ongoing scientific value of the reconnaissance of Mars that 
has been provided by the Mars Global Surveyor for the past 
five years," said Dr. James B. Garvin, NASA's Lead Scientist 
for Mars Exploration, at NASA Headquarters, Washington.

"Indeed, there remain new discoveries to be made about the 
history of water, climate variability, and character of 
future landing sites from the continuing flow of images, 
spectra, and related measurements from the Global Surveyor," 
Garvin continued. "Without the new perspectives provided by 
MGS, the critical scientific and engineering assessment of 
potential landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers would 
not have been possible," he said.

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

The images are available on the Internet from the Mars 
Orbiter Camera Gallery at:

                http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery

Additional information about the Mars Global Surveyor is 
available on the Internet 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

-end-

                            * * *

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---