China’s Tianwen-1 mission, launched in July 2020, has been a significant step in the country’s space exploration efforts. Consisting of an orbiter, a lander, two deployable cameras, a remote camera, and the Zhurong rover, the mission aims to investigate Mars’s geology, internal structure, atmosphere, and potential water sources. Like many other missions exploring Mars, Tianwen-1 is also on the lookout for signs of past or present life on the red planet.
In almost 1298 days of exploration, Tianwen-1’s orbiter has captured numerous remote-sensing images of the Martian surface. A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences worked on combining these images to produce the first high-resolution global color-image map of Mars, with spatial resolutions exceeding 1 km. Led by Professor Li Chunlai and Professor Zhang Rongqiao, the team utilized data from the Tianwen-1 orbiter to create a map that is currently the highest-resolution map of Mars.
Previous missions, such as the Mariner 9 probe, the Viking 1 and 2 orbiters, the Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Express, and the Mars Odyssey orbiter, have also generated global maps of Mars. However, these maps had spatial resolutions lower than what the Tianwen-1 team achieved. For example, the spatial resolution of the map created by Tianwen-1 is significantly higher than those of maps generated by previous missions.
The Tianwen-1 orbiter acquired a substantial amount of image data, including global color images with spatial resolutions ranging between 57 and 197 meters. Additionally, the Mars Mineralogical Spectrometer collected data in the visible and near-infrared bands, providing insights into the mineral composition of the Martian surface. The combination of these data sets allowed the researchers to create a true-color global map of Mars with unprecedented resolution.
The release of the Tianwen-1 Mars Global Color Orthomosaic 76m v1 represents a significant advancement in Mars mapping. With a spatial resolution of 76 meters and horizontal accuracy of 68 meters, this map provides a detailed and authentic representation of the Martian surface. It could serve as a valuable reference for other space agencies and partner organizations looking to study Mars with greater detail. Furthermore, the map could aid in selecting landing sites for future robotic explorers and upcoming crewed missions to Mars.
NASA and China are both planning crewed missions to Mars in the coming decades, with potential launches set for the early 2030s or 2040s. The high-resolution map created by the Tianwen-1 mission could play a crucial role in these future missions, guiding the selection of landing sites and providing essential geographic information about the Martian surface. As technology advances and more data is collected, our understanding of Mars will continue to improve, opening up new possibilities for exploration and discovery.
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