NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Lava Flow Features

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-928, 2 December 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows details near the front edge of a lava flow
in the Daedalia Planum region. Daedalia Planum is a
vast region covered with the extremely large lava flows
of southern Tharsis. The trough in the lower third of
the image is a graben formed by extension and faulting
of the martian crust. This image is located
near 28.1°S, 135.0°W, and covers an
area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper 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.