A Rotating False Color View of the Martian South Pole from MOLA

Released Monday, November 22, 1999
Updated Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 4:19PM

ID: 770

- Visualizations by:
- Tom Biddlecome
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This is one of a series of visualizations showing false-colored renderings of the Martian topography measured by MOLA in the vicinity of the Mars Polar Lander landing site. Blue tones represent elevations of less than 2 kilometers, while reddish tones are greater than about 2.8 kilometers, relative to the mean equatorial height of Mars. The elevation of the landing site is about 2.4 km, midway into the polar layered terrain. The 400 meters (1/4 mile) resolution of the MOLA data gives a smoothed but vertically exaggerated view of the topography. At this scale it is impossible to ascertain the actual roughness at the lander's destination, forcing project directors to make their best guesses based on available data.

A rotating view of the Martian south pole using MOLA topography data

The visible Martian south polar cap appears outlined in black, but the accompanying false color data shows the topographically inferred extent of the polar layered terrain.

False color image of Mars from MOLA data. Here the color scale shows the darkest blues as roughly 8 km below the mean equatorial height, while reds indicate elevations up to 5 km above the mean equatorial height.

MOLA data of Martian topography highlighting the differences in elevation between the Hellas Impact Basin and surrounding terrain. The deepest point in Hellas is roughly 8200 meters below the equatorial mean.

For More Information

See http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/MOLA_south_pole/index.html

NASA Science: Planets & Moons

Mars Space science

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Animator
- Tom Biddlecome (Raytheon) [Lead]
Scientist
- David Smith (NASA/GSFC)

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions:

Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Mars Polar Lander

Datasets used in this visualization

MGS Topography (Collected with the MOLA sensor)

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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

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A rotating view of the Martian south pole using MOLA topography data. This animation uses a color table designed to highlight the topography at the south pole. White colors indicate elevations in excess of 3012 meters, red shows elevations between 2500 and 3012 meters, yellow shows elevations from 2450 to 2500 meters, dark cyan shows elevations from 2150 to 2450 meters, dark violet shows elevations from 320 to 2150 meters. False color image of Mars from MOLA data, using a color map designed to emphasize south pole topography. White colors indicate elevations in excess of 3012 meters, red shows elevations between 2500 and 3012 meters, yellow shows elevations from 2450 to 2500 meters, dark cyan shows elevations from 2150 to 2450 meters, dark violet shows elevations from 320 to 2150 meters. False color image of the southern hemisphere of Mars from MOLA data, using a color map designed to emphasize south pole topography. White colors indicate elevations in excess of 3012 meters, red shows elevations between 2500 and 3012 meters, yellow shows elevations from 2450 to 2500 meters, dark cyan shows elevations from 2150 to 2450 meters, dark violet shows elevations from 320 to 2150 meters. This is one of a series of visualizations showing false-colored renderings of the Martian topography measured by MOLA in the vicinity of the Mars Polar Lander landing site. For More InformationSee [http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/MOLA_south_pole/index.html](http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/MOLA_south_pole/index.html) Related pages
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