The first MOC flew on Mars Observer, a spacecraft that was lost before it reached the red planet in 1993. Now, after 14 years of effort, a MOC has finally been placed in the desired mapping orbit. The MOC team's happiness is perhaps best expressed by the planet Mars itself. The picture was taken by the MOC's red and blue wide angle cameras. The bluish-white tone is caused by wintertime frost.
Illumination is from the upper left.
These mesas were formed by natural processes and are most likely the eroded remnants of a formerly more extensive layer of bedrock. This valentine from Mars is actually a pit formed by collapse within a straight-walled trough known in geological terms as a graben. Graben are formed along fault lines by expansion of the bedrock terrain. The image was targeted by the MOC team in order to examine the relationship between a lava flow and the graben and pits that disrupted and cut across the flow. The graben, pit, and lava flow are located on the east flank of the Alba Patera volcano in northern Tharsis.