...Orbiter Laser Altimeter)? The elevations in this picture (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0106/marstopography_mola.jpg) were measured using an instrument called MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) on board Mars Global Surveyor. MOLA fires a laser beam downward, then measures how long it takes for the beam to return to the spacecraft after reflecting off the surface. Suppose MOLA measures this round-trip time for the laser beam to reflect off the summit of Olympus Mons, as well as the round-trip time to reflect off the bottom of Hellas Planitia. Which round-trip time is longer? How much longer is it? Do you need to know the distance from Mars Global Surveyor to the surface to answer this question?
The elevations in this picture were measured using an instrument called MOLA (Mars...
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