February 3, 2009 —It’s pretty cool to be able to look at your house from above on Google Earth. Starting this week, you can now look at Mars.
NASA and Google announced Monday the release of a new Mars mode in Google Earth 5 that brings to everyone's desktop a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of the Red Planet.
According to a NASA press release, besides providing a 3D view of Mars that will aid public understanding of Mars science, Google Mars 3D, also gives researchers a platform for sharing data similar to what Google Earth provides for Earth scientists.
After loading Google Earth onto your computer, look for the planet icon and click on it to switch between Earth, Sky and Mars modes. You can zoom in and see satellite imagery and 3D terrain, flying virtually through enormous canyons and scaling huge mountains. Users also can explore the Red Planet through the eyes of the Mars rovers and other Mars missions. (You’ll find the rovers within the layer folder on the left. First open up the Mars Gallery, then Rovers and Landers.)
Expect to see some of the latest satellite imagery from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and other probes orbiting the Red Planet. Viewers can learn about new discoveries and explore indices of available Mars imagery. The new Mars mode also allows users to add their own 3D content to the Mars map to share with the world.
The Mars views are the latest benefit from a Space Act Agreement that NASA's Ames Research Center signed with Google in November 2006. Under its terms, NASA and Google agreed to collaborate to make NASA's data sets available to the world.
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Google Earth’s Mars 3D allows you to see satellite imagery and 3D terrain on the Red Planet. Here you see the tracks left by the rover Opportunity near Victoria Crater.
Photo credits: Google Earth
A close-up of Mars, as seen through Google Earth.
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