F.ir.st global 3-D view o.f Mars reveals deep basin and pathways for water flow

WAP99052704 - 27 MAY 1999 - WASHINGTON, D.C., USA: A false-color image of the surface of Mars as taken by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), an instrument aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and released by NASA May 27. It is the first 3-dimensional imagery of the red planet. This high-resolution map represents 27 million elevation measurements gathered in 1998 and 1999. The massive Hellas impact basin in the Southern Hemisphere (lower left) is nearly six miles deep and 1,300 miles across and is surrounded by a ring of material that rises 1.25 miles and stretches out to 2,500 miles from the basin center. This ring of material, likely thrown out of the basin during the impact of an asteroid, has a volume equivalent to a two-mile thick layer spread over the continental United States. iw/NASA UPI