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News archive

07/09/2017 New tools for exploring the surface of Mars: the Planetary SUrface Portal (PSUP) and the iMars webGIS

Two new tools have now been developed to allow scientists to access processed data from the Mars Express mission and from the ESA Planetary Science Archive. Users can browse data (high-level and raw), view image footprints, combine and compare datasets from different orbits, missions, and spacecraft instruments, hunt for signs of how the Martian surface has changed over time, and more.

The Planetary Surface Portal (PSUP) was developed by experts at the observatories of Paris Sud (OSUPS) and Lyon (OSUL). The web portal allows scientists to browse, process, download, distribute, merge, and visualise high-level data mainly related to the Martian surface from Mars Express, and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and 2001 Mars Odyssey missions.

The iMars webGIS, brings together images and stereo-derived terrain models from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), which can be displayed alongside a vast quantity of additional datasets and images from other Mars missions.

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Mars Express Archive Data

• Data from the seven science instruments aboard Mars Express: ASPERA-3, HRSC, MARSIS, MRS, OMEGA, PFS and SPICAM, is available from ESA's Planetary Science Archive (PSA) as well as the Geosciences Node of NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS).

• Various datasets from Mars Express are available through several browser-based and standalone GIS's:
  • JMars, built by Arizona State University.
  • HRSCview, Map Server and the iMars webGIS, developed by the Freie Universität Berlin.
  • Planetary Surface Portal (PSUP), including the MarsSI system, part of the eMars project at the Université de Lyon.
  • MarsTrek, run by a team at NASA's JPL.

Events

Mars Webcam

USRA Planetary Meetings Calendar

Mars Seasons:

• 22 May 2018 - L_s = 180: MY 34 Northern Hemisphere Autumnal Equinox.
• 16 October 2018 - L_s = 270: MY 34 Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice.