NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Southeast Olympus Mons

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-453, 15 August 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Olympus Mons is perhaps the largest volcano in the
Solar System. It towers to more than 20 km above
the martian datum—the elevation of 0 km–and it
is wide enough to stretch east to west across
the U.S. state of Arizona. This August 2003
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows some of the lava flows and leveed lava
channels on the southeastern flank of Olympus Mons.
These flows have been covered by a thick mantle of
dust. The image is located
near 14.4°N, 132.0°W and
covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across at 1.5 m (5 ft.)
per pixel. The scene is
illuminated 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.