The first hiking maps of Mars Options

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

The first hiking maps of Mars
European Space Agency
February 12, 2007

[Phil Stooke]

I didn't notice this discussion at the time, so here goes...

USGS made topo maps from Mariner 9 and Viking data. Global maps were from very sparse and weak data - like atmospheric density estimated from occultations. Local details could be go from stereo images - very few in Mariner 9 data, lots in Viking. But stereo is no good globally for a big place like Mars (the orientation of the stereo model is not constrained), so topo was still poor for Viking.

Nevertheless, global maps at 1:25 million and 1:15M were compiled, and the 1:5M sheets had a topo version as well. For Viking, 1:2M topo was produced for some sheets of the 120-sheet series. Viking landing site maps included topo at 1:250K.

But only with MOLA did we get good topo globally. And we still lack it for the Moon.

Phil