NASA Mars Image of the Day: Alba Patera Valleys

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-889, 24 October 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

The northwest flanks of the broad, northern Tharsis
volcano, Alba Patera, have been known since the 1970s
to exhibit a plethora of what appeared to be branching
valley networks running down the volcano slopes. Some
investigators suggested that these valleys were
evidence for precipitation and runoff of liquid water
on the volcano flanks. It was hoped that high resolution
images from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
would provide new details that would confirm or refute
the hypothesis. The problem is, MGS MOC images instead
showed a surface largely covered by an eroded, rough-textured
mantle that obscured the valley floors. The images, such
as the one shown here, also showed that the valleys
are discontinuous and indistinct when viewed at high
resolution (although, when shrunk to fit within the
reduced-scale view on this web page, they may seem
continuous— click on the image to view the full-scale
picture). The valleys in the lower quarter of this image
have been cut by a fault. This image is located
on Alba Patera
near 45.8°N, 111.8°W.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the 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.