NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Lava Flow Front
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1078, 1 May 2005
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the margins and front of a large lava flow located on the plains southeast of Ascraeus Mons in the Tharsis region. Tharsis is the site of the majority of martian volcanoes and lava flows. In this case, lava flowed from left (west) to right (east) and flowed no further east than the margins of the flow seen in this picture. |
Location near: 5.4°N, 102.1°W |
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
Illumination from: upper left |
Season: Northern Summer |
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.
