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Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera

Dust-Mantled Olympus Mons Flows

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1610, 27 November 2006

Lava flows, mantled with dust; one leveed lava channel disappears into the dust.
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Dust-covered lava flows on the lowermost south flank of Olympus Mons are captured in this 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) view acquired during northern summer on 12 October 2006. One leveed lava channel just south (below) the center left of of the image disappears into a thick, pitted and cratered dust mantle. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/upper left. The image is located near 13.8°N, 134.1°W. North is toward the top/upper right.

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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.