PIA06810: West Olympica Fossae
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a portion of a deeply eroded valley system in a portion of Olympica Fossae on Mars. The valleys are mantled by a thick blanket of dust, and small craters formed by meteor impacts superpose the valley landforms.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
 Instrument:  Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) 
 Product Size:  836 x 1824 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Producer ID:  MOC2-829  
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA06810.tif (1.505 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA06810.jpg (239.1 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

25 August 2004
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a portion of a deeply eroded valley system in the western portion of the Olympica Fossae region of central Tharsis. The valleys may have been carved by water; today they are mantled by a thick blanket of dust, and small craters formed by meteor impacts superpose the valley landforms. This picture is located near 23.0°N, 117.2°W. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across and sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/lower left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Image Addition Date:
2004-08-25