Mariner 9 Close-up of Mars
Date: 14 Nov 1971

A Martian shield volcano, approximately 25 miles across at the crater, photographed consecutively by Mariner 9 with the wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The summit crater and groves down the flank probably were produced by subsidence flowing subsurface movement of magma.


Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. The spacecraft was designed to continue the atmospheric studies begun by Mariners 6 and 7, and to map over 70% of the Martian surface from the lowest altitude (1500 kilometers [900 miles]) and at the highest resolutions (1 kilometer per pixel to 100 meters per pixel) of any previous Mars mission


Mariner 9 was launched on May 30, 1971 and arrived on November 14, 1971.

Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory