NASA Releases Interactive Mars Map

You can explore all the craters and highlands on it.

NASA has launched a new interactive tool that allows you to view Mars in the finest details and navigate between interesting points on the surface with a single click. It just needs a catchy name: Global CTX Mosaic of Mars is not very easy to remember.

The map was created based on 110,000 images taken by the Context Camera (CTX) of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Each pixel covers about 25 m² of the Red Planet's surface. This image of Mars has the highest resolution ever created: it contains 5.7 trillion pixels. If printed as a picture, it could cover an entire American Rose Bowl stadium with a capacity of 92,500 people. In comparison, Moscow's "Olympic" stadium accommodates up to 35,000 spectators.

Creating this "mosaic" from individual images required tens of thousands of hours of meticulous work over 6 years. It turned out to be so accurate that during the beta testing phase, 120 scientific papers referencing this map were verified. At the same time, it is simple enough for not only scientists but also ordinary enthusiasts without special knowledge to use.

Project leader Jay Dixon noted that he wanted to create a visual tool that could be used by both schoolchildren and his 78-year-old mother.

As a result, a website with a map of Mars was created, which can be navigated using a mouse or keyboard keys, or by switching between suggested points of interest, including the locations of the Perseverance, Curiosity, Spirit, and Opportunity rovers.

The site allows you to bookmark any location and find out the exact latitude and longitude of a specific point. Distance measurements are also available.

Global CTX Mosaic of Mars→