Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Martian Lava Flows
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1255, 19 October 2005
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
| This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows lava flows at the southeast base of the giant volcano, Olympus Mons. The flat plain in the south-southeast (bottom/lower right) portion of the image is younger than and cuts off the ends of many of the lava flows that came from the northwest (upper left). Many of the lava flows in this image exhibit channels with levees bounding their margins. As each lava flow was advancing, its outer margins cooled and hardened, forming a channel or tube through which the molten rock continued to advance. |
| Location near: 17.2°N, 129.0°W |
| Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) |
| Illumination from: lower left |
| Season: Northern Winter |
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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