This map shows a portion of the surface of Mars.
Click on image for full size
Image from: NASA
Martian Global Geography
The surface of Mars can be broken into two parts, the highlands and lowlands.
The highlands are in the southern hemisphere (the bottom of the picture). The lowlands are in the northern hemisphere of Mars (top of the picture). The highlands are called that because as a whole, they are much higher than the lowlands.
The highlands are the oldest part of Mars. They have tons of craters. The lowlands are younger. They contain the Tharsis Ridge, where many of the largest volcanoes of Mars are located.
The Mars Global Surveyor mission is taking a lot of measurements about the surface of Mars.
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