GULA MONS (ON VENUS) BY NASA MAGELLAN MISSION

 

NASA MAGELLAN MISSION (1989-1994)
Gula Mons (3000m/3km -9,843ft/1.9mi)
Planet Venus (Solar system /The Milky Way Galaxy)

The mountain
Gula Mons (3000m/3km -9,843ft/1.9mi high and 276km diameter), named after the Mesopotamian Goddess of Healing, is a shield volcano on planet Venus in western Eistla Regio, located south of Sedna Planitia, west of Bereghinya Planitia and east of Guinervere Planitia, at 21,9° N et 359,1° E.
Its main feature is a NE-SW-oriented rift-like fracture set connecting two summit calderas. There is also a structure which links the northern caldera and ridge system to Idem Kuva corona located NW of Gula Mons. Radially spreading lava flows which have digitate and broad sheet-like forms extend from the summit, including radar-dark flows which overlay several older lava deposits. Radial and circumferential fractures are present on the flanks.

The image capturer
Gula Mons is displayed in this computer-simulated view of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 110 kilometers (68 miles) southwest of Gula Mons at the same elevation as the summit, 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) above Eistla Regio. Lava flows extend for hundreds of kilometers across the fractured plains. The view is to the northeast with Gula Mons appearing at the center of the image. Gula Mons, a 3 kilometer (1.9 mile) high volcano, is located at approximately 22 degrees north latitude, 359 degrees east longitude in western Eistla Regio. Magellan synthetic aperture radar data is combined with radar altimetry to produce a three-dimensional map of the surface. Rays cast in a computer intersect the surface to create a three-dimensional perspective view. Simulated color and a digital elevation map developed by the U.S. Geological Survey are used to enhance small-scale structure. The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft. The image was produced by the JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory and is a single frame from a video released at the March 5, 1991, JPL news conference.  
- More about NASA Magellan Mission 

 
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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MONS BLANC (ON THE MOON) BY NASA LUNAR ORBITER 4

NASA LUNAR ORBITER 4,  1967

Mons Blanc  (3, 600 to 3,700m/3,6 to3,7km -11, 811 to  12,139 ft/2,24 to 2, 30 mi) 

The Moon

The mountain 

Mons Blanc  (3, 600 to 3,700m/3,6 to3,7km -11, 811 to  12,139 ft/2,24 to 2, 30 mi)  also named Mont Blanc is a mountain on the Moon, part of the Montes Alpes Range. It is located on the western edge of the range, near the shore of Mare Imbrium, at 45.48°N 0.42°E. Its width is about 25 kilometers; the height is 3.7–3.8 km above adjacent plains of Mare Imbrium and 1.12 km above lunar level of zero elevation (a sphere with radius 1737.4 km).

The name of Mons Blanc or Mont Blanc, like the highest mountain of terrestrial Alps, was proposed for this mountain by Johann Hieronymus Schrцter.  It was approved by International Astronomical Union in 1935.  It is the only summit of Montes Alpes with proper name and the only extraterrestrial mountain, whose international name contains French word "Mont" instead of Latin "Mons".

Despite statements that lunar Mont Blanc, like terrestrial one, is a highest mountain of its Alps, measurements of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show that it is only third, being 600 meters lower than the highest one and about 100 m lower than the second.

The mission 

Lunar Orbiter 4 was an unmanned US spacecraft, part of the Lunar Orbiter Program, designed to orbit the Moon, after the three previous orbiters had completed the required needs for Apollo mapping and site selection. It was given a more general objective, to "perform a broad systematic photographic survey of lunar surface features in order to increase the scientific knowledge of their nature, origin, and processes, and to serve as a basis for selecting sites for more detailed scientific study by subsequent orbital and landing missions". It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data. The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory and injected into an elliptical near polar high lunar orbit for data acquisition. The orbit was 2,706 by 6,111 kilometres (1,681 mi Ч 3,797 mi) with an inclination of 85.5 degrees and a period of 12 hours.

After initial photography on May 11, 1967 problems started occurring with the camera's thermal door, which was not responding well to commands to open and close. Fear that the door could become stuck in the closed position covering the camera lenses led to a decision to leave the door open. This required extra attitude control maneuvers on each orbit to prevent light leakage into the camera which would ruin the film. On May 13 it was discovered that light leakage was damaging some of the film, and the door was tested and partially closed. Some fogging of the lens was then suspected due to condensation resulting from the lower temperatures. Changes in the attitude raised the temperature of the camera and generally eliminated the fogging. Continuing problems with the readout drive mechanism starting and stopping beginning on May 20 resulted in a decision to terminate the photographic portion of the mission on May 26. Despite problems with the readout drive the entire film was read and transmitted. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from May 11 to 26, 1967, and readout occurred through June 1, 1967. The orbit was then lowered to gather orbital data for the upcoming Lunar Orbiter 5 mission.

A total of 419 high-resolution and 127 medium-resolution frames were acquired, covering 99% of the Moon's near side at resolutions from 58 to 134 metres (190 to 440 ft). Accurate data was acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. Radiation data showed increased dosages due to solar particle events producing low energy protons. The spacecraft was used for tracking until it struck the lunar surface due to the natural decay of the orbit no later than October 31, 1967, between 22–30 degrees W longitude.

HECATES THOLUS PHOTOGRAPHED BY NASA MARS CLOBAL SURVEYOR

NASA MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR  (1996-2007)

Hecates Tholus  (4, 500 m /4, 5km - 14,764ft /2, 79mi)

 Mars (Solar System) 

Photographed  in october 27, 2003 

The mountain 
Hecates Tholus (4,500 m /4, 5km - 14,764ft /2, 79mi) is a volcano located on the planet Mars by 32.1 ° N and 150.2 ° E in the Cebrenia quadrangle. It is about 180 km wide, about 6,000 m above Elysium Planitia. This volcano has a small summit caldera about 13 km in diameter and barely 500 m deep, and a newer lateral caldera about 10 km wide. Its flanks are convex, with a slope varying from 6 ° to 3 ° from the base to the summit.
Hecates Tholus is located north-east of Elysium Mons, north of Elysium Planitia, the second largest volcanic province of Mars, which also includes Albor Tholus in the center and Apollinaris Mons in the extreme south-east.The oldest sites were dated on the flanks of Hecates Tholus around 3.4 Ga, indicating that the volcano would have formed no later than that date. The summit caldera has subsequently experienced at least three volcanic episodes, the main one around 1 Ga and two minor episodes, with no effect on the flanks, dated at about 300 Ma and 100 Ma2.
The HRSC of the Mars Express spacecraft also discovered a second caldera, located to the northwest northwest near the base of the dome, with a diameter of 10 km and corresponding to an eruption dated to about 350 Ma5. This observation campaign has also identified recent glacial deposits in the caldeira and nearby depressions, dated less than 25 Ma, which would be in sync with a period of greater obliquity suggested at that time by various similar observations. on the surface of the planet6.
Given the morphology of the building, dome-shaped with decreasing slopes from the base to the summit, it could be a stratovolcano, similar in nature to Albor Tholus.

The mission
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was an American robotic spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 7, 1996. Mars Global Surveyor was a global mapping mission that examined the entire planet, from the ionosphere down through the atmosphere to the surface.  As part of the larger Mars Exploration Program, Mars Global Surveyor performed monitoring relay for sister orbiters during aerobraking, and it helped Mars rovers and lander missions by identifying potential landing sites and relaying surface telemetry.
It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2 November 2006, the spacecraft failed to respond to messages and commands. A faint signal was detected three days later which indicated that it had gone into safe mode. Attempts to recontact the spacecraft and resolve the problem failed, and NASA officially ended the mission in January 2007.
The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science investigation used 3 instruments: a narrow angle camera that took (black-and-white) high resolution images (usually 1.5 to 12 m per pixel) and red and blue wide angle pictures for context (240 m per pixel) and daily global imaging (7.5 km per pixel). MOC returned more than 240,000 images spanning portions of 4.8 Martian years, from September 1997 and November 2006.[6] A high resolution image from MOC covers a distance of either 1.5 or 3.1 km long. Often, a picture will be smaller than this because it has been cut to just show a certain feature. These high resolution images may cover features 3 to 10 km long. When a high resolution image is taken, a context image is taken as well. The context image shows the image footprint of the high resolution picture. Context images are typically 115.2 km square with 240 m/pixel resolution.

CERAUNIUS THOLUS SEEN BY NASA MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR

NASA MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR  (1996-2007) 

Ceraunius Tholus (5,500 m  / 5, 5 km - 18,044 ft  / 3,4 mi)

MARS

1. In View of Ceraunius Tholus (left) and Uranius Tholus (right), Mars Orbiter Camera of 

Mars Global Surveyor, 2002

2.    In The volcanoes Ceraunius Tholus (left) and Uranius Tholus (right) showed by 

THEMIS daytime infrared image mosaic, 2012

The mountain 
Ceraunius Tholus (5,500 m -  )is a volcano on Mars located in the Tharsis quadrangle at 24.25° north latitude and 262.75° east longitude, part of the Uranius group of volcanoes. It is 130 km across, 5.5 km high and is named after a classical albedo feature name.
Ceraunius Tholus is on the Tharsis rise, also called the Tharsis bulge. Tharsis is a land of great volcanoes. Olympus Mons is the tallest known volcano. Ascraeus Mons and Pavonis Mons are at least 320 km across and are over 10 km above the plateau that they sit on. The plateau is five to four seven kilometers above the zero altitude of Mars.
Ceranius Tholus is generally believed to be a basaltic shield with the lower part buried beneath plain forming lavas. Earlier interpretations suggested that it is a stratovolcano.  The slopes on Ceraunius Tholus are quite steep with an average slope of 8° with many radial erosion channels and pitted valleys extending from just below the rim of the caldera toward the base of the volcano. The current view is that the valleys were eroded by water.  Interesting features on Ceraunius Tholus are three large canyons at the northwest flank of Ceraunius Tholus which are up to 2.5 km wide and 300 m deep. The biggest of these three also appears to be the youngest and protrude from the lowest point of the volcanic caldera and ends at the interesting crater Rahe (an oblique impact crater with measures of 35 Ч 18 km), just north from the volcano where it formed a depositional fan. Its origin is still debatable and there are four main models proposed: fluvial action, volcanic flows, valley being a lava channel or some combination of previously mentioned models.
Ceraunius appears small compared to other larger volcanoes, but it is almost as tall as Earth's Mount Everest. The caldera of Ceranius Tholus is also dotted with many collapse pits, which are distinct from impact craters as they have no rim and vary in abundance across the caldera. Ceraunius Tholus is probably late Hesperian in age.
Some scientists believe that glaciers may have existed on many of the volcanoes in Tharsis including Olympus Mons, Ascraeus Mons, and Pavonis Mons.  Ceraunius Tholus may have even had its glaciers melt to form some temporary lakes in the past. The smoothness and flatness of the Ceraunius Tholus caldera floor suggests that in the past meltwater accumulated in a caldera lake.

The mission
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was an American robotic spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 7, 1996. Mars Global Surveyor was a global mapping mission that examined the entire planet, from the ionosphere down through the atmosphere to the surface.  As part of the larger Mars Exploration Program, Mars Global Surveyor performed monitoring relay for sister orbiters during aerobraking, and it helped Mars rovers and lander missions by identifying potential landing sites and relaying surface telemetry.
It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2 November 2006, the spacecraft failed to respond to messages and commands. A faint signal was detected three days later which indicated that it had gone into safe mode. Attempts to recontact the spacecraft and resolve the problem failed, and NASA officially ended the mission in January 2007.
The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science investigation used 3 instruments: a narrow angle camera that took (black-and-white) high resolution images (usually 1.5 to 12 m per pixel) and red and blue wide angle pictures for context (240 m per pixel) and daily global imaging (7.5 km per pixel). MOC returned more than 240,000 images spanning portions of 4.8 Martian years, from September 1997 and November 2006.[6] A high resolution image from MOC covers a distance of either 1.5 or 3.1 km long. Often, a picture will be smaller than this because it has been cut to just show a certain feature. These high resolution images may cover features 3 to 10 km long. When a high resolution image is taken, a context image is taken as well. The context image shows the image footprint of the high resolution picture. Context images are typically 115.2 km square with 240 m/pixel resolution.
Source: 
- NASA data base on MGS 

IRNINI MONS BY NASA MAGELLAN MISSION

NASA MAGELLAN MISSION (1989-1994)

Irnini Mons (1,750 m -  5,741ft) 

Venus 

The mountain 

Irnini Mons (1,750 m -  5,741ft) is a volcanic structure on the planet Venus, and is named after the Assyro-Babylonian goddess of cedar-tree mountains.  It has a diameter of 475 km (295 mi) and is located in Venus' northern hemisphere. More specifically, it is located in the central Eistla Regio region at (14°0′N 16°0′E) in the V-20 quadrangle. Sappho Patera, a 225 km (140 mi) diameter wide, caldera-like, depression tops the summit of Irnini Mons.  The primary structural features surrounding Irnini Mons are graben, seen as linear depressed sections of rock, radiating from the central magma chamber. Also, concentric, circular ridges and graben outline the Sappho Patera depression at the summit. The volcano is crossed by various rift zones, including the north-south trending Badb Linea rift, the Guor Linea rift extending to the northwest, and the Virtus Linea rift continuing to the southeast.

The combination of volcanic-tectonic structures around Irnini Mons supports varying intensities of deformation and a multi-directional stress history. Although classified as a shield volcano, Irnini Mons contains many elements of the Venusian coronae, bringing speculation to its formation. If Irnini Mons was originally a corona, a shallow oval-shaped depression, it would support a thin lithosphere on Venus. On the other hand, it being a shield volcano supports the theory of a thicker lithosphere and Irnini Mons' stress history could be summarized simply as a transition from predominantly compressive forces to extensional relaxation, resulting in the observed radiating graben and concentric ridges.

Irnini Mons is a significant structural feature on Venus because the preservation of the geology allows for the analysis of Venus' regional stress orientation in response to a pressurized magma chamber over time.

The mission
Magellan was launched on May 4, 1989, at 18:46:59 UTC by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from KSC Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis during mission STS-30. Once in orbit, the Magellan and its attached Inertial Upper Stage booster were deployed from Atlantis and launched on May 5, 1989 01:06:00 UTC, sending the spacecraft into a Type IV heliocentric orbit where it would circle the Sun 1.5 times, before reaching Venus 15 months later on August 10, 1990.
Originally, the Magellan had been scheduled for launch in 1988 with a trajectory lasting six months. However, due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, several missions, including Galileo and Magellan, were deferred until shuttle flights resumed in September 1988. Magellan was planned to be launched with a liquid-fueled, Centaur-G upper-stage booster, carried in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle. However, the entire Centaur-G program was canceled after the Challenger disaster, and the Magellan probe had to be modified to be attached to the less-powerful Inertial Upper Stage. The next best opportunity for launching occurred in October 1989.
Further complicating the launch however, was the launching of the Galileo mission to Jupiter, one that included a fly-by of Venus. Intended for launch in 1986, the pressures to ensure a launch for Galileo in 1989, mixed with a short launch-window necessitating a mid-October launch, resulted in replanning the Magellan mission. Weary of rapid shuttle launches, the decision was made to launch Magellan in May, and into an orbit that would require one year, three months, before encountering Venus.
On August 7, 1990, Magellan encountered Venus and began the orbital insertion maneuver which placed the spacecraft into a three-hour, nine minute, elliptical orbit that brought the spacecraft 295-kilometers from the surface at about 10 degrees North during the periapsis and out to 7762-kilometers during apoapsis
On September 9, 1994, a press release outlined the termination of the Magellan mission. Due to the degradation of the power output from the solar arrays and onboard components, and having completed all objectives successfully, the mission was to end in mid-October. The termination sequence began in late August 1994, with a series of orbital trim maneuvers which lowered the spacecraft into the outermost layers of the Venusian atmosphere to allow the Windmill experiment to begin on September 6, 1994. 

MONS PICO BY JAMES NASMYTH

JAMES NASMYTH  (1808-1890) 

Mons Pico (2,450m - 8,038ft)

The Moon 

1 In Pico as seen by a spectator in the moon, early photography, circa 1860 by James Nasmyth

2.  In Mons Pico (left) and Mons Pico Beta (right), Mare Imbrium, 1971, 

NASA APOLLO 15 MISSION (July, 26, 1971- August  7, 1971)

The mountain 

Mons Pico  (2,450m - 8,038ft)  is a solitary lunar mountain that lies in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin, to the south of the dark-floored crater Plato and on the southern rim of a ghost crater.  This peak forms part of the surviving inner ring of the Imbrium basin, continuing to the northwest and with the Montes Teneriffe and Montes Recti ranges, and probably to the southeast with the Montes Spitzbergen. This mountain feature was most likely named by Schröter for the Pico von Teneriffe (Teide). The selenographic coordinates of this peak are 45.7° N, 8.9° W. It forms an elongated feature with a length of 25 kilometers (oriented northwest-southeast) and a width of 15 km. The mountain itself is a very reflective and bright object. The exact elevation of the mountain was recently measured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on October 1, 2016.

Due to its isolated location on the lunar mare, however, this peak can form prominent shadows when illuminated by oblique sunlight. It is also known as a location of Transient Lunar Anomalies. A smaller peak to the southeast of Mons Pico is sometimes called Mons Pico β (Beta), although this does not appear to be recognized by the IAU. This region of the mare is notable for a number of wrinkle ridges.

The artist 

James Hall Nasmyth (sometimes spelled Naesmyth, Nasmith, or Nesmyth) was a Scottish engineer, artist and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company manufacturers of machine tools. He retired at the age of 48, and moved to Penshurst, Kent where he developed his hobbies of astronomy and photography.

Nasmyth retired from business in 1856  as he said "I have now enough of this world's goods: let younger men have their chance".  He renamed his retirement home "Hammerfield" and happily pursued his various hobbies. He built his own 20-inch reflecting telescope, in the process inventing the Nasmyth focus, and made detailed observations of the Moon. He co-wrote The Moon : Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite with James Carpenter (1840–1899). This book contains an interesting series of "lunar" photographs: because photography was not yet advanced enough to take actual pictures of the Moon, Nasmyth built plaster models based on his visual observations of the Moon and then photographed the models. A crater on the Moon is named after him. In memory of his renowned contribution to the discipline of mechanical engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering building at Heriot-Watt University, in his birthplace of Edinburgh, is called the James Nasmyth Building.

The mission 

NASA APOLLO 15 MISSION (July, 26, 1971- August  7, 1971)

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the United States' Apollo program, the fourth to land on the Moon, and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed 

"J missions", long stays on the Moon, with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions. It was also the first mission on which the Lunar Roving Vehicle was used.

The mission began on July 26, 1971, and ended on August 7. At the time, NASA called it the most successful manned flight ever achieved.

Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin spent three days on the Moon, including 18Ѕ hours outside the spacecraft on lunar extra-vehicular activity (EVA). The mission landed near Hadley rille, in an area of the Mare Imbrium called Palus Putredinus (Marsh of Decay). The crew explored the area using the first lunar rover, which allowed them to travel much farther from the Lunar Module (LM) than had been possible on missions without the rover. They collected 77 kilograms (170 lb) of lunar surface material. At the same time, Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden orbited the Moon, using a Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) in the Service Module (SM) to study the lunar surface and environment in great detail with a panoramic camera, a gamma-ray spectrometer, a mapping camera, a laser altimeter, a mass spectrometer, and a lunar sub-satellite deployed at the end of Apollo 15's stay in lunar orbit (an Apollo program first).

The mission successfully accomplished its objectives. Ironically, this mission was one of very few that had been honored with the issue of a commemorative US stamp, with this first use of a lunar rover happening one decade after the first Mercury astronaut launch.

SEORITSU FARRA (ON VENUS) BY NASA MAGELLAN MISSION

NASA MAGELLAN MISSION  (1989-1994)

Seoritsu Farra ( 750m - 2,475 ft)

Venus 

The mountain 

In the first image: the eastern edge of Alpha Regio is shown centered at 30 degrees south latitude and 11.8 degrees east longitude (longitude on Venus is measured from 0 degrees to 360 degrees east). Seven circular, dome-like hills, averaging 25 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter with maximum heights of 750 meters (2,475 feet) dominate the scene. These features are interpreted as very thick lava flows that came from an opening on the relatively level ground, which allowed the lava to flow in an even pattern outward from the opening. The complex fractures on top of the domes suggest that if the domes were created by lava flows, a cooled outer layer formed and then further lava flowing in the interior stretched the surface. The domes may be similar to volcanic domes on Earth. Another interpretation is that the domes are the result of molten rock or magma in the interior that pushed the surface layer upward. The near-surface magma then withdrew to deeper levels, causing the collapse and fracturing of the dome surface. The bright margins possibly indicate the presence of rock debris on the slopes of the domes. Some of the fractures on the plains cut through the domes, while others appear to be covered by the domes. This indicates that active processes pre date and post date the dome-like hills. The prominent black area in the northeast corner of the image is a data gap. North is at the top of the image.

In the second image:  a portion of the eastern edge of Alpha Regio is displayed in this three-dimensional perspective view of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located at approximately 30 degrees south latitude, 11.8 degrees east longitude at an elevation of 2.4 kilometers (3.8 miles). The view is to the northeast at the center of an area containing seven circular dome-like hills. The average diameter of the hills is 25 kilometers (15 miles) with maximum heights of 750 meters (2,475 feet). Three of the hills are visible in the center of the image. Fractures on the surrounding plains are both older and younger than the domes. The hills may be the result of viscous or thick eruptions of lava coming from a vent on the relatively level ground, allowing the lava to flow in an even lateral pattern. The concentric and radial fracture patterns on their surfaces suggests that a chilled outer layer formed, then further intrusion in the interior stretched the surface. An alternative interpretation is that domes are the result of shallow intrusions of molten lava, causing the surface to rise. If they are intrusive, then magma withdrawal near the end of the eruptions produced the fractures. The bright margins possibly indicate the presence of rock debris or talus at the slopes of the domes. Resolution of the Magellan data is about 120 meters (400 feet). Magellan's synthetic aperture radar is combined with radar altimetry to develop a three-dimensional map of the surface. A perspective view is then generated from the map. Simulated color and a process called radar-clinometry are used to enhance small-scale structures. The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft. 

The images were produced by the JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory by Eric De Jong, Jeff Hall, Myche McAuley, and Randy Kirk of the United States Geological Survey, and is a single frame from the movie released at the May 29, 1991 Magellan news conference.

TITAN'S MITHRIM MONTES BY NASA CASSINI MISSION

NASA CASSINI MISSION (1997- 2017)

Mithrim Montes (3,337 m - 10,948 ft) 

 TITAN (SATURN'S MOON)

The mountain

Mithrim Montes (3,337 m - 10,948 ft) is the highest  point of Saturn's largest moon Titan. The researchers found that all of Titan's highest peaks are about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) in elevation. The study used images and other data from Cassini's radar instrument, which can peer through the obscuring smog of Titan's atmosphere to reveal the surface in detail.

"It's not only the highest point we've found so far on Titan, but we think it's the highest point we're likely to find," said Stephen Wall, deputy lead of the Cassini radar team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The results, which use data collected by Cassini's radar instrument, was presented at the 47th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference at The Woodlands, Texas.

Most of Titan's tallest mountains appear to be close to the equator. The researchers identified other peaks of similar height within the Mithrim Montes, as well as in the rugged region known as Xanadu, and in collections of more isolated peaks called "ridge belts" located near the landing site of ESA's Huygens probe.

The investigation was originally motivated by a search for active zones within Titan's crust -- places where dynamic forces have shaped the landscape, perhaps in the relatively recent past.

"As explorers, we're motivated to find the highest or deepest places, partly because it's exciting. But Titan's extremes also tell us important things about forces affecting its evolution" said Jani Radebaugh, a Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, who led the research.

Mountains and cliffs on Earth usually are found in locations where forces have shoved the surface upward from underneath. Forces of erosion, including wind, rain and runoff, slowly wear them down over time. The Himalaya and Andes Mountains are examples of places where interior forces are at work today. The Appalachian Mountains represent much more ancient activity that produced similarly gigantic peaks long ago, which have since eroded.

Cassini has found that Titan also has rain and rivers that erode its landscape. According to Radebaugh, the process probably proceeds much more slowly on Titan than on Earth because, at 10 times Earth's distance from the sun, there is less energy to power erosive processes in the moon's atmosphere.  Titan's icy crust sits atop a deep ocean of liquid water that probably acts much like Earth's upper mantle -- the layer of hot, high-pressure rock below the crust that can slowly flow and deform over time.

The fact that Titan has significant mountains at all suggests that some active tectonic forces could be affecting the surface, for example, related to Titan's rotation, tidal forces from Saturn or cooling of the crust. The next step for the researchers will be trying to figure out what could produce such tall peaks on an icy ocean world.

"There is lot of value in examining the topography of Titan in a broad, global sense, since it tells us about forces acting on the surface from below as well as above," said Radebaugh.

 Source: 

 -  NASA- Cassini Mission at Saturn

- Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Saturn 

- Caltech

- Agenzia Spatiale Italiana (ASI) 

- European Spatial Agency (ESA)

The mission 

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the US and several European countries. 

The mission was launched on  October 15, 1997 at 8:43 UTC. This 20 years mission was programmed to end on September 15, 2017 by what is called The Grande Finale.

 Source: 
 -  NASA- Cassini Mission at Saturn

NORGAY MONTES BY NASA NEW FRONTIERS PROGRAM

NASA NEW FRONTIERS PROGRAM (2003-2023) 

By New Horizons Spacecraft (July 14, 2015) 

Norgay Montes (3,400m / 3.4 km -  11,000 ft / 2.1 mi)

Pluto 

In  Pluto - Norgay Montes (left foreground); Hillary Montes (skyline); Sputnik Planitia (right)

Near-sunset view includes several layers of atmospheric haze, NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

The Mountain
The Norgay Montes rise to 3.4 km (2.1 mi; 11,000 ft) high, about twice as high as the Hillary Montes. In comparison, Mount Everest rises 4.6 km (2.9 mi; 15,000 ft) base-to-peak (though to an altitude of 8.8 km (5.5 mi; 29,000 ft) above sea level). Japan's Mount Fuji is closer, at about 3.8 km (2.4 mi; 12,000 ft) in altitude.
The Norgay Montes less officially, Norgay Mountains are icy mountains, near the Hillary Montes,  bordering the southwest region of Sputnik Planitia in the south of Tombaugh Regio (or the part of Tombaugh Regio south of the equator).  The mountains, first viewed by the New Horizons spacecraft on 14 July 2015, and announced by NASA on 15 July 2015, are named after the Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who, along with Sir Edmund Hillary, made the first successful ascent of the highest peak on Earth, Mount Everest (29 May 1953).
Source: 
 - New Frontiers Program Website

The NASA Program
The New Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted by NASA with the purpose of researching several of the Solar System bodies, including the dwarf planet Pluto.
The New Frontiers program was developed and advocated by NASA and granted by Congress in CY 2002 and 2003. The exploration program is divided in three major missions:
- New Horizons, a mission to Pluto (photos above), launched on January 19, 2006. After a Jupiter gravity assist in February 2007 the spacecraft continued towards Pluto. The primary mission flyby occurred in July 2015 and the spacecraft was then targeted toward one Kuiper Belt object called '2014 MU69' for a January 1, 2019 flyby.   Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto’s horizon (pictures above).
- Juno, a Jupiter exploration mission  launched on August 5, 2011 and arrived in July 2016. It is the first solar-powered spacecraft to explore an outer planet.
- OSIRIS - REx  stands for "Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer".  This mission plan is to orbit an asteroid, at the time named 1999 RQ36 (now 101955 Bennu), by 2020. After extensive measurements, the spacecraft will collect a sample from the asteroid's surface for return to Earth in 2023.
Source: 
 - New Frontiers Program Website 

SAPAS MONS BY NASA MAGELLAN MISSION

NASA MAGELLAN MISSION (1989-1994)

Sapas Mons (1,500m or 1, 5km -   4,921ft or 0.93mi)

Venus (Alta Regio) 

The mountain 

Sapas Mons 1.5 kilometers (0.93 mi) is a large volcano with twin summit, located in the Atla Regio region of planet Venus. Sapas is named after the Canaanite sun goddess. It measures about 400 kilometers (250 mi) across. Its flanks show numerous overlapping lava flows. The dark flows on the lower right of the radar image are thought to be smoother than the brighter ones near the central part of the volcano. Many of the flows appear to have been erupted along the flanks of the volcano rather than from the double summit. This type of flank eruption is common on large volcanoes on Earth, such as the Hawaiian volcanoes. The summit area has two flat-topped mesas, whose smooth tops give a relatively dark appearance in the radar image. Also seen near the summit are groups of pits, some as large as one kilometer (0.6 mile) across. These are thought to have formed when underground chambers of magma were drained through other subsurface tubes and lead to a collapse at the surface. A 20-kilometer-diameter (12 mi) impact crater northeast of the volcano is partially buried by the lava flows. Little was known about Atla Regio prior to the Magellan probe. The new data, acquired in February 1991, show the region to be composed of at least five large volcanoes such as Sapas Mons, which are commonly linked by complex systems of fractures or rift zones. If comparable to similar features on Earth Atla Regio probably formed when large volumes of molten rock upwelled from areas within the interior of Venus known as 'hot spots.'
Source:
- NASA

The photographer 
Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft observed in the 1970s have first photographed the twin summit. The Nasa Magellan Mission photographed the region in a more acute way.
- More about NASA Magellan Mission 
- Nasa Magellan Mission to Venus

GULA MONS BY NASA MAGELLAN MISSION

NASA MAGELLAN MISSION (1989-1994)

Gula Mons  (3,000m - 9,843ft)

Planet Venus 

The mountain
Gula Mons (3000m/3km -9,843ft/1.9mi high  and 276km diameter), named after the Mesopotamian Goddess of Healing, is a shield volcano on planet Venus in western Eistla Regio, located south of Sedna Planitia, west of Bereghinya Planitia and east of Guinervere Planitia, at 21,9° N et 359,1° E.
Its main feature is a NE-SW-oriented rift-like fracture set connecting two summit calderas. There is also a structure which links the northern caldera and ridge system to Idem Kuva corona located NW of Gula Mons. Radially spreading lava flows which have digitate and broad sheet-like forms extend from the summit, including radar-dark flows which overlay several older lava deposits. Radial and circumferential fractures are present on the flanks.

The photographer 
- More about NASA Magellan Mission 

AEOLIS MONS BY NASA CURIOSITY MISSION

NASA CURIOSITY MISSION (since 2012)

Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp (5, 500 m - 18, 000 ft)

Mars  

3 pictures of Aeolis Mons taken by NASA Curiosity Rover & Curiosity team : 

1. Aeolis Mons photographed by  Curiosity Rover on September 9, 2012

2. Aeolis Mons photographed by Curiosity Rover on September 20, 2012

3.  Aeolis Mons photographed  by Curiosity Rover on August 6, 2012

(Click images to enlarge)  

The mountain

Aeolis Mons (5, 500 m - 18, 000 ft) also called Mount Sharp is a mountain on the surface of the planet Mars. It forms the central peak within Gale crater and is located around 5.08°S 137.85°E, rising 5.5 km (18,000 ft) high from the valley floor. Aeolis Mons is about the same height as Mons Huygens, the tallest lunar mountain, and taller than Mons Hadley visited by Apollo 15. The tallest mountain known in the Solar System is in Rheasilvia crater on the asteroid Vesta, which contains a central mound that rises 22 km  or 22.000 m - 14 mi or 72,000 ft high.
Olympus Mons on Mars is nearly the same height, at 21.9 km (13.6 mi; 72,000 ft) high.
In comparison, Mount Everest / Chomolunga rises to 8.8 km -29,000 ft altitude above sea level, but is only 4.6 km - 15,000 ft  base-to-peak. Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro is about 5.9 km - 19,000 ft altitude above sea level  also 4.6 km base-to-peak. America's Denali, also known as Mount McKinley, has a base-to-peak of 5.5 km -18,000 ft.  The Franco-Italian Mont Blanc/Monte Bianco is 4.8 km -16,000 ft in altitude above sea level.  Mount Fuji, which overlooks Tokyo, Japan, is about 3.8 km -12,000 ft altitude. Compared to the Andes, Aeolis Mons would rank outside the hundred tallest peaks, being roughly the same height as Argentina's Cerro Pajonal; the peak is higher than any above sea level in Oceania, but base-to peak it is considerably shorter than Hawaii's Mauna Kea and its neighbors.
Discovered in the 1970s by NAS,  the mountain remained nameless for perhaps 40 years. When it became a likely landing site, it was given various labels; for example, in 2010 a NASA photo caption called it "Gale crater mound".  In March 2012, NASA unofficially named it "Mount Sharp", for American geologist Robert P. Sharp. The International Astronomical Union, which is responsible for planetary nomenclature for its participants, names large Martian mountains after the Classical albedo feature in which it is located, not for people. In May 2012 the IAU thus named the mountain Aeolis Mons, and gave the name Aeolis Palus to the crater floor plain between the northern wall of Gale and the northern foothills of the mountain. Despite the official name, NASA and the ESA continue to refer to the mountain as "Mount Sharp" in press conferences and press releases
Aeolis is the ancient name of the Izmir region in western Turkey.

The NASA mission 
On August 6, 2012, Curiosity (the Mars Science Laboratory rover) landed in "Yellowknife" Quad of Aeolis Palus, next to the mountain. NASA named the landing site Bradbury Landing on August 22, 2012. Aeolis Mons is a primary goal for scientific study.
 On June 5, 2013, NASA announced that Curiosity would begin a 8 km (5.0 mi) journey from the Glenelg area to the base of Aeolis Mons.
On November 13, 2013, NASA announced that an entryway Curiosity would traverse on its way to Aeolis Mons was to be named "Murray Buttes", in honor of planetary scientist Bruce C. Murray (1931–2013). The trip was expected to take about a year and would include stops along the way to study the local terrain.
On September 11, 2014, NASA announced that the Curiosity rover had reached Aeolis Mons, the rover mission's long-term prime destination.
On October 5, 2015, possible recurrent slope lineae, wet brine flows, were reported on Mount Sharp near Curiosity.

As of January 20, 2017, Curiosity has been on the planet Mars for 1585 sols (1628 days) since landing on August 6, 2012. 

Sources: 

- NASA Curiosity Mission page 

- Wikipedia

COMPTON PEAK BY NASA LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER

NASA LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (August 6 -18, 1967 - August 27, 1967) 

Compton Peak (0 - No elevation data)

Northern Hemisphere - Far side

The Moon    

1. In The Earth (Africa, Europe, Atlantic Ocean) seen from Compton Peak, Photo, August 1967 

2. In Compton Crater and its central peak, Photo, August 1967

3. In Compton crater and peak seen from Apollo 16 NASA mission, Photo, April 1972

The  crater and it peak  
Compton is a prominent lunar crater with a central peak (heigh unknown)  that is located in the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. It lies to the east of the Mare Humboldtianum, and southwest of the walled plain Schwarzschild. To the southeast of Compton is the heavily eroded crater Swann. This formation is roughly circular, with a wide, irregular outer rim that varies considerably in width. Parts of the inner wall have terraced steps that form wide shelves along the edge. Within the wall is a floor that has been resurfaced by lava flows some time in the past. This surface has a lower albedo than the surroundings, giving it a slightly darker hue.
At the midpoint of the floor is a formation of mounts that comprise the central peak. This peak is surrounded by a semi-circular ring of hills that lie in the western half of the crater at a radius about half that of the inner edge of the rim. These mounts form jagged rises through the lava-covered surface and lie at irregular intervals from each other.
The interior also contains a set of slender rilles within the ring of hills, primarily in the northwest part of the crater floor. Apart from a small, bowl-shaped craterlet near the eastern rim, the floor only contains a few tiny craterlets.
Source:
NASA, Lunar Nomenclature

The Imager
 Lunar Orbiter 5, the last of the Lunar Orbiter series, was designed to take additional Apollo and Surveyor landing site photography and to take broad survey images of unphotographed parts of the Moon's far side. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data and was used to evaluate the Manned Space Flight Network tracking stations and Apollo Orbit Determination Program. The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory and on August 5, 1967 was injected into an elliptical near polar lunar orbit 194.5 by 6,023 kilometres (120.9 mi × 3,742.5 mi) with an inclination of 85 degrees and a period of 8 hours 30 minutes. On August 7 the perilune was lowered to 100 kilometers (62 mi), and on August 9 the orbit was lowered to a 99-by-1,499-kilometre (62 mi × 931 mi), 3 hour 11 minute period.
The spacecraft acquired photographic data from August 6 to 18, 1967, and readout occurred until August 27, 1967. A total of 633 high resolution and 211 medium resolution frames at resolution down to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) were acquired, bringing the cumulative photographic coverage by the five Lunar Orbiter craft to 99% of the Moon's surface. Accurate data were acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. The spacecraft was tracked until it struck the lunar surface on command at 2.79 degrees S latitude, 83 degrees W longitude (selenographic coordinates) on January 31, 1968.

TYCHO PEAK BY NASA LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER

NASA LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (since 2009)

Tycho Peak  (2,000m or 2 km - 1, 24miles)

The Moon 

© NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

 © Goddard Space Flight Center / Arizona State University

The peak 
A very popular target with amateur astronomers, Tycho is located at 43.37°S, 348.68°E, and is about 51 miles (82 km) in diameter. The summit of the central peak is 1.24 miles (2 km) above the crater floor (images 1& 2). The distance from Tycho's floor to its rim is about 2.92 miles (4.7 km).
Tycho crater's central peak complex (image 3) is about 9.3 miles (15 km) wide.
Many rock fragments ("clasts") ranging in size from some 33 feet (10 m) to hundreds of yards are exposed in the central peak slopes. Were these distinctive outcrops formed as a result of crushing and deformation of the target rock as the peak grew? Or do they represent preexisting rock layers that were brought intact to the surface?
Tycho's features are so steep and sharp because the crater is only about 110 million years old -- young by lunar standards. Over time micrometeorites and not-so-micro meteorites, will grind and erode these steep slopes into smooth mountains. For a preview of Tycho's central peak may appear like in a few billion years, look at Bhabha crater.
On May 27, 2010, LRO captured a top-down view of the summit (above), including the large boulder seen in the image. Also note the fractured impact melt deposit that surrounds the boulder. And the smooth area on top of the boulder, is that also frozen impact melt? These images from the LRO Camera clearly show that the central peak formed very quickly: the peak was there when impact melt that was thrown straight up during the impact came back down, creating mountains almost instantaneously. Or did the melt get there by a different mechanism? The fractures probably formed over time as the steep walls of the central peak slowly eroded and slipped downhill. Eventually the peak will erode back, and this massive boulder will slide 1.24 miles (2 km) to the crater
On June 10, 2011, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft angled its orbit 65° to the west, allowing the LRO Camera NACs to capture a dramatic sunrise view of Tycho crater.
Source: 
- NASA missions official website/ Tycho peak 

The Imager 
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon since 2009 in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO has been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic missions to the Moon. Its detailed mapping program is identifying safe landing sites, locating potential resources on the Moon, characterizing the radiation environment, and demonstrating new technologies.
Launched on June 18, 2009, in conjunction with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), as the vanguard of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program, LRO was the first United States mission to the Moon in over ten years. LRO and LCROSS were launched as part of the United States's Vision for Space Exploration program.
The probe has made a 3-D map of the Moon's surface at 100-meter resolution and 98.2% coverage (excluding polar areas in deep shadow), including 0.5-meter resolution images of Apollo landing sites.
The first images from LRO were published on July 2, 2009, showing a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds).
The total cost of the mission is reported as US$583 million, of which $504 million pertains to the main LRO probe and $79 million to the LCROSS satellite.
Source: 
- NASA missions official website

MAAT MONS SEEN BY NASA MAGELLAN MISSION

NASA MAGELLAN MISSION  (1989-1994)

Maat mons (8,000 m- 26,246ft)

Venus

photographed in 1990-92 in Alta Regio V236 and Stanton V 38 Quadrangle 

The mountain 

Maat Mons (8,000 m - 26,246ft or  8 km - 5.mi according to the way to measure mountains outside Earth planet) is a massive shield volcano located on the solar system planet Venus.  Maat Mons, named for an Egyptian goddess of truth and justice, is the second-highest mountain, and the highest volcano, on the planet Venus. 

Venus, named for the ancient Roman goddess of love and beauty, is the second planet from the sun and the closest planetary neighbor of Earth. Similar in structure and size to Earth, Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction most planets do. Its thick atmosphere traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in our solar system with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Glimpses below the clouds reveal volcanoes and deformed mountains.

Maat Mons is displayed in this three-dimensional perspective view of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 560 kilometers (347 miles) north of Maat Mons at an elevation of 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) above the terrain. Lava flows extend for hundreds of kilometers across the fractured plains shown in the foreground, to the base of Maat Mons. The view is to the south with Maat Mons appearing at the center of the image on the horizon. Maat Mons, an 8-kilometer (5 mile) high volcano, is located at approximately 0.9 degrees north latitude, 194.5 degrees east longitude. 

Maat Mons has a large summit caldera, 28x31 km in size. Within the large caldera there are at least five smaller collapse craters, up to 10 km in diameter. A chain of small craters 3–5 km in diameter extends some 40 km along the southeast flank of the volcano, but rather than indicating a large fissure eruption, they seem to also be formed by collapse: full resolution imagery from the Magellan probe reveals no evidence of lava flows from these craters.

At least two large scale structural collapse events seem to have occurred in the past on Maat Mons.

Radar sounding by the Magellan probe revealed evidence for comparatively recent volcanic activity at Maat Mons, in the form of ash flows near the summit and on the northern flank.

Intriguingly for planetary geologists, atmospheric studies carried out by the Pioneer Venus probes in the early 1980s revealed a considerable variation in the concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and methane (CH4) in Venus' middle and upper atmosphere. One possible explanation for this was the injection of volcanic gases into the atmosphere by Plinian eruptions at Maat Mons.

Although many lines of evidence suggest that Venus is likely to be volcanically active, present-day eruptions at Maat Mons have not been confirmed.

Source: 

- NASA Solar system database 

- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / CalTech

The image capturer

The Magellan spacecraft, named after the 16th century Portuguese explorer whose expedition first circumnavigated the Earth, was launched May 4, 1989, and arrived at Venus on August 10, 1990. Magellan's solid rocket motor placed it into a near-polar elliptical orbit around the planet. During the first 8-month mapping cycle around Venus, Magellan collected radar images of 84% of the planet's surface, with resolution 10 times better than that of the earlier Soviet Venera 15 and 16 missions. Altimetry and radiometry data also measured the surface topography and electrical characteristics.
During the extended mission, two further mapping cycles from May 15, 1991 to September 14, 1992 brought mapping coverage to 98% of the planet, with a resolution of approximately 100m.
Precision radio tracking of the spacecraft will measure Venus' gravitational field to show the planet's internal mass distribution and the forces which have created the surface features. Magellan's data will permit the first global geological understanding of Venus, the planet most like Earth in our solar system.

Magellan Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data is combined with radar altimetry to develop a three-dimensional map of the surface. The vertical scale in this perspective has been exaggerated 22.5 times. Rays cast in a computer intersect the surface to create a three-dimensional perspective view. Simulated color and a digital elevation map developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, are used to enhance small-scale structure. The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft. The image was produced at the JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory.

Source: 
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / CalTech

HALE CRATER MOUNTAINS SEEN BY NASA MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER

NASA MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER MISSION (2005-2015)

Hale Crater Mountains  (150 kms diameter -  93 mile diameter)

Planet Mars  (Argyre quadrangle)

1 & 2. Hale crater mountains slope seeping waters

3. Hale crater mountains gullies.

The "mountains" 

Hale is a 150 km x 125 km (93 mi x 78 mi) crater located at 35.7°S, 323.4°E, just north of Argyre basin on Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury, often nicknamed "The red planet" because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

The Hale crater is situated in the Argyre quadrangle of the planet.  

On 28 September 2015 NASA confirmed the seasonal existence of liquid water in Hale crater. The salts in the water (magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate, sodium perchlorate,...) lower its freezing and melting point to 203 K (−70 °C or −94 °F), which is near the average summer night temperature. 

Hale was created by an asteroid roughly 35 km (22 mi) across that impacted at an oblique angle about 3.5–3.8 billion years ago. The rim and ejecta are eroded and show smaller impacts, but subsequent deposits have covered up small craters within it.  On the southern rim of Hale, parts of the crater wall have moved downslope towards the crater's centre. The surface shows a network of fluvial channels which may have been caused by running water.

It is named after George Ellery Hale, an astronomer from Chicago who determined in 1908 that sunspots are the result of magnetic activity.
The wall of Hale Crater has a large number of gullies. Some are pictured below in an image from HiRISE. Unlike, some other gullies on Mars, these are in light-toned materials. Research published in the journal Icarus has found pits in Hale Crater that are caused by hot ejecta falling on ground containing ice. The pits are formed by heat forming steam that rushes out from groups of pits simultaneously, thereby blowing away from the pit ejecta.
Gullies occur on steep slopes, especially craters. Gullies are believed to be relatively young because they have few, if any craters, and they lie on top of sand dunes which are young. Usually, each gully has an alcove, channel, and apron. Although many ideas have been put forward to explain them, the most popular involve liquid water either coming from an aquifer or left over from old glaciers.
There is evidence for both theories. Most of the gully alcove heads occur at the same level, just as one would expect of an aquifer. Various measurements and calculations show that liquid water could exist in an aquifer at the usual depths where the gullies begin. One variation of this model is that rising hot magma could have melted ice in the ground and caused water to flow in aquifers. Aquifers are layer that allow water to flow. They may consist of porous sandstone. This layer would be perched on top of another layer that prevents water from going down (in geological terms it would be called impermeable). The only direction the trapped water can flow is horizontally. The water could then flow out onto the surface when it reaches a break, like a crater wall. Aquifers are quite common on Earth. A good example is "Weeping Rock" in Zion National Park Utah.
On the other hand, much of the surface of Mars is covered by a thick smooth mantle that is thought to be a mixture of ice and dust. This ice-rich mantle, a few yards thick, smoothes the land, but in places it has a bumpy texture, resembling the surface of a basketball. Under certain conditions the ice could melt and flow down the slopes to create gullies. Because there are few craters on this mantle, the mantle is relatively young.
Changes in Mars's orbit and tilt cause significant changes in the distribution of water ice from polar regions down to latitudes equivalent to Texas. During certain climate periods water vapor leaves polar ice and enters the atmosphere. The water comes back to ground at lower latitudes as deposits of frost or snow mixed generously with dust. The atmosphere of Mars contains a great deal of fine dust particles. Water vapor will condense on the particles, then fall down to the ground due to the additional weight of the water coating. When ice at the top of the mantling layer goes back into the atmosphere, it leaves behind dust, which insulates the remaining ice.

The camera
The image above, has been captured by the HiRISE  (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The 65 kg (143 lb), $40 million USD instrument was built under the direction of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. It consists of a 0.5 m (19.7 in) aperture reflecting telescope, the largest so far of any deep space mission, which allows it to take pictures of Mars with resolutions of 0.3 m/pixel (about 1 foot), resolving objects below a meter across.
HiRISE has imaged Mars landers on the surface, including the ongoing Curiosity and Opportunity rover missions.
HiRISE was designed to be a High Resolution camera from the beginning. It consists of a large mirror, as well as a large CCD camera. Because of this, it achieves a resolution of 1 microradian, or 0.3 meter at a height of 300 km. (For comparison purposes, satellite images on Google Mars are available to 1 meter). It can image in three color bands, 400–600 nm (blue-green or B-G), 550–850 nm (red) and 800–1,000 nm (near infrared or NIR).
HiRISE incorporates a 0.5-meter primary mirror, the largest optical telescope ever sent beyond Earth's orbit. The mass of the instrument is 64.2 kg.
Red color images are at 20,048 pixels wide (6 km in a 300 km orbit), and Green-Blue and NIR are at 4,048 pixels wide (1.2 km). These are gathered by 14 CCD sensors, 2048 x 128 pixels. HiRISE's onboard computer reads out these lines in time with the orbiter's ground speed, meaning the images are potentially unlimited in height. Practically this is limited by the onboard computer's 28 Gbit (3.5 GByte) memory capacity. The nominal maximum size of red images (compressed to 8 bits per pixel) is about 20,000 × 126,000 pixels, or 2520 megapixels and 4,000 × 126,000 pixels (504 megapixels) for the narrower images of the B-G and NIR bands. A single uncompressed image uses up to 28 Gbit. However, these images are transmitted compressed, with a typical max size of 11.2 Gigabits. These images are released to the general public on the HiRISE website via a new format called JPEG 2000.
To facilitate the mapping of potential landing sites, HiRISE can produce stereo pairs of images from which the topography can be measured to an accuracy of 0.25 meter.
The HiRISE camera is designed to view surface features of Mars in greater detail than has previously been possible. It has provided a closer look at fresh martian craters, revealing alluvial fans, viscous flow features and ponded regions of pitted materials containing breccia clast.  This allows for the study of the age of Martian features, looking for landing sites for future Mars landers, and in general, seeing the Martian surface in far greater detail than has previously been done from orbit. By doing so, it is allowing better studies of Martian channels and valleys, volcanic landforms, possible former lakes and oceans, and other surface landforms as they exist on the Martian surface.
The general public is allowed to request sites for the HiRISE camera to capture (see HiWish). For this reason, and due to the unprecedented access of pictures to the general public, shortly after they have been received and processed, the camera has been termed "The People's Camera".
 The pictures can be viewed online, downloaded, or with the free HiView software.

MONS HADLEY SEEN BY NASA APOLLO 15 MISSION

NASA APOLLO 15 MISSION (July, 26, 1971- August  7, 1971)

Mons Hadley (4,600m -15,091ft) 

The Moon 

1.  Jim Irwin, the Lunar Rover from Apollo 15 and Mons Hadley in the background 

2. Mons Hadley photographed from Apollo 15 before landing July 30, 1971, 22:16:29

3. Mons Hadley ©The Lunar Institute Map. 

The mountain

Mons Hadley (4,600m -15,091ft ) is  the second highest mountain on the Moon, the first being Mons Huyghens (5, 500m - 18,044ft.  Mons Hadley is a massif in the northern portion of the Montes Apenninus, a range in the northern hemisphere of the Moon. The selenographic coordinates of this peak are  26.5° N, 4.7° E. It has a maximum diameter of 25 km at the base.

To the southwest of this mountain is a valley that served as the landing site for the Apollo 15 expedition. To the southwest of this same valley is the slightly smaller Mons Hadley Delta (δ) peak with a height of about 3.5 km. The coordinates of this peak are 25.8° N, 3.8° E. To the west of these peaks is the sinuous Rima Hadley rille where the Fallen Astronaut memorial has been placed in memory of those astronauts who died in the advancement of space exploration.

These features were named after John Hadley.

This sinuous lunar rille follows a course generally to the northeast, toward the Mons Hadley peak, for which it is named. This feature is centered at selenographic coordinates 25.0° N, 3.0° E, and lies within a diameter of 80 km. It begins at the crater Béla, an elongated formation with the long axis oriented to the northwest.  

Sources: 

- Lunar and Planetary Institute

The mission 

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the United States' Apollo program, the fourth to land on the Moon, and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed 

"J missions", long stays on the Moon, with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions. It was also the first mission on which the Lunar Roving Vehicle was used.

The mission began on July 26, 1971, and ended on August 7. At the time, NASA called it the most successful manned flight ever achieved.

Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin spent three days on the Moon, including 18Ѕ hours outside the spacecraft on lunar extra-vehicular activity (EVA). The mission landed near Hadley rille, in an area of the Mare Imbrium called Palus Putredinus (Marsh of Decay). The crew explored the area using the first lunar rover, which allowed them to travel much farther from the Lunar Module (LM) than had been possible on missions without the rover. They collected 77 kilograms (170 lb) of lunar surface material. At the same time, Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden orbited the Moon, using a Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) in the Service Module (SM) to study the lunar surface and environment in great detail with a panoramic camera, a gamma-ray spectrometer, a mapping camera, a laser altimeter, a mass spectrometer, and a lunar sub-satellite deployed at the end of Apollo 15's stay in lunar orbit (an Apollo program first).

The mission successfully accomplished its objectives. Ironically, this mission was one of very few that had been honored with the issue of a commemorative US stamp, with this first use of a lunar rover happening one decade after the first Mercury astronaut launch.

Sources:

- Apollo 15 on Encyclopedia Astronautica