In late 2006, he and Kenneth Edgett announced photographic evidence which strongly suggested water was flowing on Mars in the present day.
After his doctorate, he worked for four years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was involved with the Viking 1 and Voyager missions.
He taught geology at Arizona State University for 11 years before returning to California and founding Malin Space Science Systems.
Malin and Ed Danielson, a friend from Caltech days, jointly thought up a camera which would be able to resolve objects 6.5 feet across.
His most significant claim is that photographic evidence from the MOC strongly suggests recent flow of water on the surface of Mars.