NASA Mars Picture of the Day: West Olympica Fossae

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-829, 25 August 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a portion of a deeply eroded valley system
in the western portion of the Olympica Fossae region of
central Tharsis. The valleys may have been carved
by water; today they are mantled by a thick blanket
of dust, and small craters formed by meteor
impacts superpose the valley landforms. This picture is located
near 23.0°N, 117.2°W.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across
and sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/lower left.

Malin Space Science Systems 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, California.
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,
California and Denver, Colorado.