NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Collapsed Subsurface Channel

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-698, 16 April 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows evidence of a collapsed lava tube (or other form
of subterranean channel) on the plains northwest of the Elysium
volcanoes. Lava or another fluid (e.g., water)
was transported through
a subsurface channel; later, the roof collapsed to form a
series of pits and troughs, revealing the channel’s location.
This landform is located
near 32.7°N, 219.5°W.
The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
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.