Research team releases a 76 m-per-pixel global color image dataset and map of Mars

Distant-sensing pictures of Mars comprise wealthy details about its floor morphology, topography, and geological construction. These information are elementary for scientific analysis and exploration missions of Mars. Previous to China’s first Mars exploration mission, information from six superior optical imaging programs of various missions within the Martian orbit was used to generate Mars world/near-global picture datasets with spatial resolutions higher than 1 km.

Nonetheless, when it comes to world shade pictures, the perfect model of Mars Viking Colorized International Mosaic has a resolution of roughly 232 m/pixel. There’s a lack of world shade pictures of Mars on the hundred-meter scale and better decision.

New information obtained by the Tianwen-1 mission has laid the inspiration for the event of a high-resolution world color-image map of Mars with excessive positioning accuracy. As of July 25, 2022, Tianwen-1 Average Decision Imaging Digital camera (MoRIC) had accomplished imaging over 284 orbits throughout its remote-sensing mission interval, buying 14,757 pictures with spatial resolutions between 57 and 197 m.

The collected pictures achieved world protection of the Martian floor. At virtually the identical time, a total of 325 strips of information within the seen and near-infrared bands have been obtained by the Tianwen-1 Mars Mineralogical Spectrometer, with spatial resolutions various from 265–800 m.

Utilizing the above-mentioned information, Professor Li Chunlai at Nationwide Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese language Academy of Sciences and Professor Zhang Rongqiao at Lunar Exploration and Area Engineering Middle led the Tianwen-1 science group and collaborators to conduct analysis on picture information processing and world mapping of Mars. The analysis is published within the journal Science Bulletin.

This examine used the bundle adjustment know-how to optimize the unique orbit measurement information by treating Mars as a unified adjustment community, lowering the place deviation between particular person MoRIC pictures to below 1 pixel, and attaining pixel-level “seamless” world picture mosaicking.

Brightness and shade consistency of the worldwide pictures was ensured by means of shade correction and world shade uniformity. The true colours of the Martian floor have been measured utilizing the MMS onboard the Tianwen-1 orbiter, and a true-color reference for the Martian floor was established for true shade restoration.

By means of this examine, a worldwide shade picture dataset and map of Mars (Tianwen-1 Mars International Shade Orthomosaic 76 m v1), with a decision of 76 m and a horizontal accuracy of 68 m was produced and launched.

The Tianwen-1 Mars International Shade Orthomosaic information merchandise fill the hole within the high-precision positioning of Mars world color-image information merchandise at a scale of tens of meters. It’s at the moment the best decision world true-color picture map of Mars, and considerably improves the decision and color authenticity of generally used world Mars pictures.

This mapping product can function a brand new Mars world base map, offering a higher-quality geographic reference for worldwide friends to conduct Mars picture mapping at scales of tens of meters, meters, and submeters, in addition to supporting subsequent Mars exploration missions and scientific analysis.