NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Olympica Fossae 10-01-2003

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-500, 1 October 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This 500th Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
captioned release shows some of the complex flow and channel
features of the
Olympica Fossae region in northern Tharsis. The story of
the Olympica Fossae is still emerging and continues to be puzzling.
There is evidence in the Olympica Fossae channels that
a fluid with the physical properties of water may have been
involved in creating some of the erosional forms, but there are
also flow features suggestive of lava or mud in the region.
Regardless, the Olympica Fossae almost always yield
a very pretty and interesting MOC high resolution image.
This picture is located near 24.5°N, 115.4°W.
The area shown is 3 km (1.9 mi) wide
and 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.