Olympus Mons and hence lead to the low gradients on the surface of the planet. Olympus Mons is an unlikely landing location for automated space probes in the near future. The high elevations preclude parachute-assisted landings because the atmosphere is insufficiently dense to slow the spacecraft down. Moreover, Olympus Mons stands in one of the dustiest regions of Mars. A mantle of fine dust obscures the underlying bedrock, possibly making rock samples hard to come by and likely posing a significant obstacle for rovers. Olympus Mons is the result of many thousands of highly fluid, basaltic lava flows that poured from volcanic
Maat Mons Maat Mons Maat Mons is a massive shield volcano. It is the second-highest mountain, and the highest volcano, on the planet Venus. It rises above the mean planetary radius at , and nearly 5 km above the surrounding plains. It is named after the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice, Ma'at. Maat Mons has a large summit caldera, 28×31 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,