# Lounge > Science and Technology >  >  Touring Mars: Cool Data Visualization Lets You Visit the Red Planet

## Sagan

Touring Mars: Cool Data Visualization Lets You Visit the Red Planet 
By Hanneke Weitering, Space.com Staff Writer | July 18, 2017 04:00pm ET 

- click for image - 

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDo...9yZS0wMS5qcGc= 

This high-res visualization of the Martian surface shows the inside  of Candor Chasma, a canyon in Valles Marineris with walls as high as the  Rocky Mountains (15,000 feet, or 4,500 meters). 
Credit: OpenSpace/YouTube 


Have you ever wished you could go to Mars without taking on the  long-term commitment and risks associated with spaceflight? Now you can  explore the surface of Mars without leaving the comfort of planet Earth,  thanks to troves of imagery from NASA spacecraft and a cool  data-visualization software called OpenSpace. 

With OpenSpace, you can fly over Martian mountaintops and swoop  through the deep canyons of Valles Marineris with the highest-resolution  views from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), creating sort of a  Google Earth for Mars. And that's just the beginning; the makers of  OpenSpace said they aim to ultimately map the entire known universe with  dynamic and interactive visualizations created from real scientific  data. 

Using data and images from the Context Camera (CTX) on MRO and the  Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, researchers have already mapped 90  percent of the Red Planet's surface down to a resolution of about 20  feet (6 meters) per pixel. Incorporating high-resolution images from the  spacecraft's HiRISE camera (High-Resolution Imaging Science  Experiment), OpenSpace has allowed researchers to image parts of Mars  down to a resolution of about 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel.  That's 24 times sharper than before. [Latest Photos from NASA's Mars  Reconnaissance Orbiter] 

NASA and SpaceX have used HiRISE to look at potential landing sites  for upcoming robotic missions like the Mars 2020 rover and Red Dragon  sample-return mission, because the camera can resolve details in the  terrain and determine whether it's safe for a rover to touch down and  drive around there. When HiRISE isn't looking at landing sites,  scientists use it to study other aspects of the Martian surface. 

More: 
https://www.space.com/37529-mars-vir...e=notification

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## Chantellabella

Home!!!! 

Ok. Now I see why I left. 

It's good not to have to shake sand out of my tutu everyday.

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## CloudMaker

I don't think we should be on Mars. Elon musk and NASA want to go there....  but it's not ours. What if we disturb something we shouldn't have?

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