3,000 Orbiter Images Produce Unprecedented Atlas of Mars–Perfect for the Wall of a Bedroom or Classroom




Looking for a present for a space enthusiast at home? Do you wish to encourage a love of the universe among students?

A new map of Mars based on 3,000 photos stitched together is now accessible for academics thanks to the Middle East's most successful space mission ever.

It's incredible that the second-best studied planet in the solar system is represented in the same manner that we all visualize our own planet in our minds; this makes the concept of Mars as a neighbor feel so much more relatable.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Center for Space Science and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) collaborated to construct the atlas, which provides senior scientists with a wealth of information in addition to serving as a display piece for science courses.

Dimitra Atri, group leader and research scientist at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), stated in the release, "We plan to make our map available to everyone on the planet as part of the new and improved Atlas of Mars, which we have been working on and will be available in both English and Arabic once published."

It is hoped that the accessibility would make it an excellent tool for scholars and students to learn more about Mars and highlight the opportunities the space industry in the UAE may provide.

The Emirates Mars orbiter Hope (Al-Mal), which was launched in July 2020 from Japan and was outfitted with the Emirates Exploration Imager, exposes the Red Planet in detail that has never previously been documented at this size.

Every identified and investigated feature of Mars, including the biggest volcano in the solar system, Olympic Mons, as well as polar ice caps, extinct river and lake systems, and lake systems with their deltas that NASA's Perseverance rover has been investigating, are shown on the atlas.

Because of its advantageous location, the Hope probe is assisting scientists in developing this comprehensive map of the planet, according to Atri. Hope travels around Mars in an elliptical orbit, which enables it to view from a great distance away from other spacecraft. This advantageous location is assisting researchers in constructing a comprehensive picture of the globe.

The map provides a comprehensive understanding of the circumstances in the early solar system by revealing the history of the planet's bombardment by asteroids. Scientists can calculate the quantity and patterns of debris from 3.5 billion years ago using the pattern of asteroidal bombardment.