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A Comparison of Visible and Topographic Data for the Martian South Pole: Version 1

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.

Rotating a Martian globe, using Viking imagery, to the south pole and fading to topography data from MOLA, showing that large portions of the ice cap may be covered by dust.  Note that the permanent frozen cap of carbon dioxide ice is not located directly at the south pole.  White colors indicate elevations in excess of 3012 meters, and dark violet shows elevations from 320 to  2150 meters.    Rotating a Martian globe, using Viking imagery, to the south pole and fading to topography data from MOLA, showing that large portions of the ice cap may be covered by dust. Note that the permanent frozen cap of carbon dioxide ice is not located directly at the south pole. White colors indicate elevations in excess of 3012 meters, and dark violet shows elevations from 320 to 2150 meters.
Duration: 35.0 seconds
Available formats:
  352x240 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   4 MB
  160x80       PNG           33 KB
  80x40         PNG           10 KB
  320x238     JPEG         5 KB
  720x480 (29.97 fps) DV             125 MB
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A false color image of the topography of the Martioan south pole overlaid with an outline denoting the visible polar cap    A false color image of the topography of the Martioan south pole overlaid with an outline denoting the visible polar cap

Available formats:
  320 x 240         JPEG     18 KB

Animation Number:767
Completed:1999-11-22
Animator:Tom Biddlecome (Raytheon) (Lead)
Scientist:David Smith (NASA/GSFC)
Platforms/Sensors/Data Sets:Viking (1976-1980)
 MGS/MOLA/Topography
Series:Mars Polar Lander
Video:SVS1999-0028 *
Goddard TV Tape:G1999-097
Keywords:
SVS >> Mars
DLESE >> Space science
More Information on this topic available at:
stories/MOLA_south_pole/index.html
 
 
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio


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