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
Sagan Planet Walk Sagan, Bill Nye, narrated a podcast tour of the Planet Walk in 2006 which can be accessed free by calling 703.637.6237 as you walk through the scale-model representation of the Solar System. The models of the Solar System, in order: The Sagan Planet Walk has inspired the creation of other scale-model Solar Systems in the United States. Sagan Planet Walk The Sciencenter's Sagan Planet Walk is a walkable scale model of the Solar System, located in Ithaca, New York. The model scales the entire Solar System—both planet size and distances between them—down to one five billionth of its actual size.