Google Maps Mars

MONDAY MARCH 13 2006 8:40 AM

Submitted by WilWheaton. Edited By WilWheaton.

Those crazy kids at Google have taken their mapping technology all the way to another planet, with Google Mars.

Using this service, you can browse the martian landscape the same way as using Google Maps. Google has 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.

Google says that you can't currently use the Google Earth interface with Google Mars, but that they're "working on it." In fact, Google has put together this really cool Mariner Valley fly-thru, which they say was built using data which will eventually be incorporated into the Google Earth client.

According to a commenter called "thegooglist" at ZDNet, this could be part of a larger "Google Universe" project:

Google is one step closer to announcing a Google Galaxy (Universe/Solar System) product. Today Google introduced Google Mars, its Maps-like exploration of the surface of Mars. (This is likely an extension of Keyhole's Mars exploration that was quietly forgotten once Google acquired the company.)

But forget Earth or Mars, Google is going to the outer limits! Between July 19 and 21, 2005, Google, Inc. registered the .com/net/org/info domains for Google's name plus all of the planets and words like galaxy, universe, and solar system.

In addition to the beautiful images of the planet's surface, Google Mars lets you search for the location every lander ever sent to Mars, all sorts of unique geological formations, and even the infamous Face on Mars.

26 Comments

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s5

STAFF

San Francisco, CA

MAR 13, 2006 08:55 AM

That is amazing. I just searched on "hotels within 10 blocks of Adamas Labyrinthus" and found a great deal through Expedia.

James_

United Kingdom

March 2003

MAR 13, 2006 08:58 AM

Can you use Google Earth to look at the moon? If not, they really should do that too, cos that would be endlessly cool!

WilWheaton

Los Angeles, CA

June 2005

MAR 13, 2006 09:56 AM

Oh, and if you use Google Mars to get directions, be sure to double-check before you leave. I heard that JPL used the beta for one of their spacecraft, and we all know how that turned otu.