Astronomy Picture of the Day . Flying Over the Columbia Hills of Mars . ... 19.05.2008 . ... Credit: Randolph Kirk ( USGS ), MSSS , MER , NASA Explanation: What it would be like to fly over Mars? Combining terrain data from the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft (now dormant) with information about the robotic Spirit rover currently rolling across Mars has resulted in a digital movie that shows what a flight over the Columbia Hills might look like. ... Publications with keywords: Mars . ...