Mars software Options

[karolp]

I have read about the Midnight Mars Viewer but I work on ancient computers here and it could not possibly fit on any of the tiny hard drives not to mention extreme RAM deficiency. I am looking for a neat LITTLE thingy that would show me a map of Mars with certain degree of interactivity (daylight, landing sites etc. would be nice). And yes, I know these guys:

http://www.merid.cam.org/meridian/index.html
http://skyandtelescope.com/resources/softw...ticle_328_2.asp
http://pds-rings.seti.org/tools/viewer2_mar.html

So, any nice little thingy links anyone?

Regards,

Karol P.

[helvick]

Celestia will run on a Win95 SE machine with 64Meg of RAM and less than a hundred meg of disk space.

It will show you as much detail as you want and is plenty accurate for your purposes.

The one requirement is a reasonably capable 2nd generation 3D graphics card (Something like an Nvidia TNT) but pretty much any video card produced since around 2000 will manage the basic rendering option.

[jamescanvin]

Celestia is hardly LITTLE though! But well worth it if you can get it running.

Seeing your comment "daylight, landing sites etc." made me immediately think of Mars24 which does that at least.

James

[karolp]

Thank you for your quick answers but I already know Celestia and Mars 24. As for Celestia, I am looking for something Mars-specific and less demanding when it comes to graphics - oh yes, the only computers that I can access conveniently are from before 2000. As for Mars 24, it does show landing sites but only the NASA ones. I was thinking more of something really tiny, a bit like Meridian but more sophisticated. On the USGS website there is a great, higly accurate, detailed MOLA map colorised for elevation but it is only a Mercator style map in a PDF file and it would be great if someone could turn it into an interactive application with the surface features actually projected onto a globe which can be turned and viewed from above or below, zoomed and maybe even have some search features. It is amazing what ingenious software people come up with nowadays and I thought someone has already created that kind of software.

[helvick]

It is amazing what ingenious software people come up with nowadays and I thought someone has already created that kind of software.

Sounds like a nice exercise for someone to take on if it hasn't been done already. It wouldn't be trivial but it should be possible to build a very compact general purpose "sphere" viewer that needed very little hardware horsepower that could then have things like a Mars Map and location information textured over it.

I'd volunteer but graphics rendering apps are not my thing, it would be fun though. I wanted to build a general purpose engine to visualise Mars at once time, ideally using the MOLA maps as the base structure but then I discovered Celestia and kind of lost the impetus.

[karolp]

I have just stumbled upon just that: a 3d engine with superimposed texture:

http://planetarium.civ.pl/downland/uklad.php

(position No. 2 in the software list). It does not have any names on it though and is kind of slow at rendering things.

[jamescanvin]

As for Mars 24, it does show landing sites but only the NASA ones.

That's not true, it includes Beagle 2 and Mars 2/3/6, plus a whole load of surface features.

[lyford]

I think this the right place to post this, but it looks like a newer version of Terragen in in the pipeline:
Terragen 2 Technology Preview Release Announcement

Some great work has been done with the older version here.

[Bob Shaw]

I think this the right place to post this, but it looks like a newer version of Terragen in in the pipeline:
Terragen 2 Technology Preview Release Announcement
Some great work has been done with the older version here.

Lyford:

I've had lots of fun in the past with both VistaPro and Terragen and look forward to TG2!

Here's a quick play with one of Luc Bianco's images of a (Terrestrial) icy landscape (the original is at: http://lucbianco.free.fr/3D/TGD12.jpg):

Bob Shaw

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[lyford]

Wow that turned out pretty nice!

Now we just have to add a rover to it

[karolp]

That's not true, it includes Beagle 2 and Mars 2/3/6, plus a whole load of surface features.

Oops, sorry about that. The older landers are not displayed as default though.

[charborob]

A few months ago I stumbled upon a website where you could download a program that permits you to navigate around Mars (kind of what Google Earth does) using actual data from Mars. There was a video showing a zoom into Victoria crater and moving around the crater in a 3D view. Unfortunately, I didn't bookmark the site, and I can't find it anymore. The software was called something like "Malathea" or "Galathea". I think it was developed by a group in a university. Any of you know anything about that?
Thanks for any help.

[mcaplinger]

The software was called something like "Malathea" or "Galathea". I think it was developed by a group in a university.

Not a HHGTTG fan, eh?

That would be Magrathea: http://www.magrathea-engine.org/v2/index.php?lang=en

[dvandorn]

Ah, but did they make the sky *just* the right shade of pink?



-the other Doug

[charborob]

Not a HHGTTG fan, eh?

That would be Magrathea: http://www.magrathea-engine.org/v2/index.php?lang=en

Yes, that's it. Thanks.

What is HHGTTG?