Google is exploring the unexplorables. After introducting Googlemaps a few months ago, I've heard that they are now beta testing Google Mars.
Just like googlemaps, Google Mars also gives us images of the red planet. It's so amazing. From a simple university project that turned into the number one online search engine, Google is now giving us a glimpse of Mars!!!
Google Mars Maps include the planet's regions, mountains, plains, spacecrafts, canyons, ridges, dunes, and craters. Wow! Google Mars Maps is in collaboration with NASA researchers at Arizona State University.
Here are the Frequently Asked Questions published by Google for Google Mars Maps:
1. What am I looking at?
We've included three different types of data in Google Mars:
Elevation - A shaded relief map, generated with data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. This map is color-coded by altitude, so you can use the color key at the lower left to estimate elevations.
Visible - A mosaic of images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. MOC is like the digital camera you have at home. Basically, this is what your eyes would see if you were in orbit around Mars.
Infrared - A mosaic of infrared images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Warmer areas appear brighter, and colder areas are darker. Clouds and dust in the atmosphere are transparent in the infrared, making this the sharpest global map of Mars that's ever been made.
2. Why isn't the visible map in color?
In true color, Mars pretty much looks like butterscotch. We chose a gray-scale map in order to highlight more surface details.
3. What are the gold colored pieces on the infrared map? Is that color real?
Those are areas where we've hand-built higher resolution mosaics and superimposed them on the global image. The infrared data is all from wavelengths humans can't even see, so it's always false color. We've chosen a golden tint because it looks good and makes the high-resolution images stand out nicely.
4. Can I see the Mars data using the Google Earth client?
Not yet, but we're working on it. To whet your appetite, you can check out this 3-D fly-through movie of Valles Marineris made using this data.
5. How do I find out more about this data, or Mars in general?
You can learn more about these images on the JMARS data distribution page. To learn more about Mars in general, you might start with the NASA Mars Missions home page. There's also a pretty good search engine that could aid you in your quest. ;)
Google Mars Maps can be viewed at http://www.google.com/mars
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