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The upper image is a regional orbital view showing the debouchment area of the Ares Vallis channel in the Chryse Planitia. The ellipse corresponds to the landing ellipse of the Mars Pathfinder mission landing site. Below, two views of the Chryse region from the ground, in 1997 (middle image) at the Pathfinder landing site, and (bottom image) at the Viking landing site in 1976. Never before theories about Martian flows were so well-correlated with the ground-truth than during the Pathfinder mission. The orbital image above shows large channels and morphologies suggesting powerful outflow episodes. The first panorama sent back by Pathfinder showed imbricated rocks and large ripples, all aligned in the direction of the suggested flow. In the background, the Twin Peaks showed several layers of terraces, confirming the passage of a flow, and possibly several flow episodes.
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