Landing Site Maps for the Mars Exploration Rovers

U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Team

Color-shaded relief showing Opportunity landing site. The vertical exaggeration is five times. For scale, the small crater east of the landing site is 20 kilometers in diameter.

Color-shaded relief showing Gustev crater and the large channel Ma'adim Vallis flowing into it from the south. The vertical exaggeration is five times. For scale, Gustev crater is approximately 150 kilometers wide from rim to rim.

Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

By Trent Hare

Contact: Trent Hare; thare@usgs.gov
Software: ArcMap, Adobe Illustrator, and Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers
Hardware: PC
Data Source(s): Arizona State University, Cornell University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Malin Space Science Systems, NASA, and U.S. Geological Survey

With the successful landing of the two Mars exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, Mars has once again commanded the attention of cartographers around the world. As of May 2004, both rovers have met their 100 percent “mission success” goals. With both rovers working at full capacity, the project was extended into September 2004. These two figures display the landing site locations of the two rovers using remotely sensed data. Two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellites circling Mars, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, gathered the images and topographic data used.

Cartography Maps

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