Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Flows on Olympus Mons

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-396, 19 June 2003


NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the Solar System. While it is considerably taller than Mount Everest, its slopes tend to be 1° to 5° over most of the volcano. With such low slopes, one would not really "climb" to the summit of Olympus Mons, one would instead hike. This very high resolution Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) view of the middle western flank of Olympus Mons shows, however, that it would not be an easy place to hike. The surface is rugged, with many overlapping lava flow structures, all of which are mantled by a thick blanket of dust and wind-scoured sediment. This image is near 19.9°N, 135.5°W, and 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.

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