NASA Mars Picture of the Day: The Flows of Olympus

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-878, 13 October 2004

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This August 2004
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows lava flows and a collapsed lava tube on
the upper southwest flank of Olympus Mons, one of the
largest volcanoes ever known. The collapsed lava tube
is the channel-like feature in the upper third of
the image. All of the surfaces in this image are
very heavily peppered by small meteor impact craters.
While fairly young relative to much of the martian
surface, the large volcanoes of Mars are still quite
old and battered by impacts. This image is located
near 17.9°N, 135.4°W, and image covers
an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the 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.