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
Fictional planets of the Solar System Fictional planets of the Solar System The fictional portrayal of our Solar System has often included planets, moons, and other celestial objects which do not actually exist in reality. Some of these objects were, at one time, seriously considered as hypothetical planets which were either thought to have been observed, or were hypothesized in order to explain certain celestial phenomena. Often such objects continued to be used in literature long after the hypotheses upon which they were based had been abandoned. Other non-existent Solar System objects used in fiction have been proposed or hypothesized by persons with no scientific standing,