Previous Animation Next Animation A Rotating True Color View of the Martian South Pole 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 from Viking imagery Duration: 44.0 seconds Available formats:   352x240 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   6 MB   320x238     JPEG         5 KB   720x480 (29.97 fps) DV             152 MB How to play our movies    A close-up view of the Martian south pole with grid lines, from Viking imagery Available formats:   2560 x 1920     TIFF 12 MB   640 x 480         JPEG     43 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     14 KB   80 x 40             PNG         6 KB    An equatorial view of Mars using Viking imagery Available formats:   2560 x 1920     TIFF 2 MB   640 x 480         JPEG     21 KB   320 x 240         JPEG       7 KB    A view of the southern hemisphere of Mars using Viking imagery Available formats:   2560 x 1920     TIFF 5 MB   640 x 480         JPEG     48 KB   320 x 240         JPEG     14 KB Animation Number: 769 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 *Please note: the SVS does not fulfill requests for copies of the tapes in our library. On some of our animation pages, there is a direct link to a video distribution service from which tapes, handled by the Public Affairs Office (PAO)/Goddard TV, including some of our animations may be ordered. General information on this service can be found here. Back to Top

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