The following new images were taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft:

• The Beagle 2 Landing Site

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/index.html

The image captions are appended below.

Mars Global Surveyor was launched in November 1996 and has been in Mars orbit since September 1997. It began its primary mapping mission on March 8, 1999. Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a long-term program of Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO.

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

The Beagle 2 Landing Site: Part 1 - Low Resolution Views

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-267, 10 January 2001 MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-268, 10 January 2001

On 20 December 2000, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the selection of a landing site for the British Mars lander, Beagle 2, that will be carried to the red planet aboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter in 2003. The landing is currently scheduled for 26 December 2003. The landing site is centered near 11?N, 270?W, in eastern Isidis Planitia. The name, Isidis Planitia, refers to the broad, relatively flat plain that covers the floor of an extremely ancient, large basin formed by an asteroid or comet impact perhaps more than 4 billion years ago. The floor of this basin exhibits chains of pitted ridges, numerous smaller meteor impact craters, and a variety of light-toned ripples and small dunes.

In this two-part Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) data release, the MOC Team at Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) presents all available MOC image products as well as MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) shaded relief maps and Viking Orbiter views of the Beagle 2 landing site. These products are being used by the MOC Team to help determine where new MOC narrow angle images need to be acquired during the MGS Extended Mission phase that will run from February 2001 to April 2002.

Part 1 of the release exhibits low-spatial resolution products including MOC wide angle views, MOLA maps, and Viking Orbiter image mosaics of the landing site region. The colored ellipses present the areas in which Beagle 2 may land.

Part 2 of the release includes all MOC narrow angle views of the Beagle 2 landing site region. These include all of the MOC high resolution images obtained as of 1 January 2001.

Image Credits: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems