The California Institute of Technology (United States) created the image of Mars with the highest resolution in history.
It is a map made thanks to data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), a NASA spacecraft dedicated to monitoring the red planet.
The material is actually a large mosaic generated from 110,000 different photos, taken by the black-and-white context camera aboard the MRO.
It covers almost 25 square meters of surface area per pixel, an area that could cover the entire Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California.
Both scientists and the public can navigate a new global map of Mars that shows cliffs, craters, and dust devil tracks in mesmerizing detail. It uses a mosaic composed of 110,000 images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. See more and try it yourself: https://t.co/TO69fe9pBK pic.twitter.com/4Dq0KnsVum
— NASA Mars (@NASAMars) April 5, 2023
This large image of Mars took six years to complete, thanks to the efforts of the team at the institute's Bruce Murray Planetary Visualization Laboratory.
It is such a detailed mapping that cliffs, impact craters and dust swirl tracks can be seen in impressive detail.
The map, which includes %99,5 of the surface of Mars and some 13,000 images that had to be united by hand, works with 3D navigation and users can visit it from the website.
Now you can explore Martian features like cliffsides + craters up close – from your web browser! @Caltech has created the highest resolution global image we've ever had of the Red Planet, using images from @NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Learn more: https://t.co/dUzdmYEsPn pic.twitter.com/LwH6tC1QKP
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) April 6, 2023