NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Olympian Lava Channels

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-651, 29 February 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Flowing lava can make leveed channels–that is, channels with
raised-rimmed walls.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows an example from the lower north flank of the
giant volcano, Olympus Mons. The channels today are filled
with a blanket of dust. The image is located
near 23.0°N, 135.9°W.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left; the
picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.

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.