JPL: Mars Global Surveyor Reaches Milestone
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The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has snapped its hundred thousandth picture of the Red Planet.
Scientists at Pasadena received the image from the NASA spacecraft on November fifth, nearly five years to the day after the robotic satellite was launched.
No other spacecraft has taken as many pictures of Mars. NASA´s twin Viking orbiters have come the closest, returning a total of about 55,000 images of the planet between 1975 and 1980.
The new black-and-white digital image shows a mile-wide portion of a valley north of Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the solar system. The valley floor is covered by windblown dunes, a common sight on Mars.
