NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Flows of Olympus

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-506, 7 October 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows a series of dust-covered, overlapping lava flows
on the lower southeast flank of the giant martian
volcano, Olympus Mons. Leveed channels are abundant; they
were the conduits through which molten lava was transported down
the length of each flow. This picture is located near
14.3°N, 132.3°W, and
covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. The image is illuminated
by sunlight 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.