Google Earth Now 'Live From Mars'

By Nancy Atkinson - March 13, 2009 at 1:05 PM UTC | Planetary Science
mars_livefrom-copy.jpg

[/caption]

Google Earth

announced a big update today of its Mars features, including a chance to see a continuous stream of new, high resolution satellite imagery just hours after NASA receives them. Called "Live from Mars," this section features imagery from NASA's THEMIS camera on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, and the HiRISE Camera from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. You can become one of the very first people to lay eyes on images taken just days or even hours ago. You can also see live satellite orbital tracks, or check out where these cameras plan to image next.

But wait! There's more! Users can also travel back in time to see the Red Planet through the eyes of the pioneers of Mars science in the 'Historical Maps' layer by exploring antique maps by astronomers Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell, and others. But also, if you don't know exactly where to start with your Mars exploration, there are guided tours of Mars narrated by Ira Flatow of Public Radio's Science Friday and Bill Nye the Science Guy, allowing you to enjoy the PB&J (passion, beauty and joy) of the Red Planet through their eyes.

[caption id="attachment_27075" align="aligncenter" width="305" caption="Mars in Google Earth. Credit: Google"]

[/caption] So how do you enjoy these new features? Open Google Earth, and after selecting 'Mars' from the toolbar in Google Earth, users fly to a 3D view of the Red Planet, complete with informational layers, imagery, and terrain. The tools for navigation and exploration on Mars are identical to those on Earth - zoom in and out, change the camera view, or spin the entire planet with a click of the mouse. [caption id="attachment_27076" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Historical maps in Google Mars. Credit: Google."]

[/caption] Just as in the original version of Mars in Google Earth, users can read geo-located articles from Hartmann's "A Traveler's Guide to Mars" about the solar system's largest canyon, Valles Marineris, its tallest volcano, Olympus Mons, the infamous 'Face on Mars', and many other famous Martian locations. Users can also follow the paths of Mars rovers and view hi-resolution panoramic photos of the Mars surface.

Google's Communication and Public Affairs officer Aaron Stein noted the "Live From Mars" imagery is the most current available from the THEMIS camera. " Our live imagery is the most current available imagery from THEMIS," he said. "It's not unusual for NASA to save up and download one or two days of images at a time, so downloads do not always occur within hours of image acquisition. Despite this, Live from Mars is orders of magnitude more "live" than the typical NASA public data release process, which for Mars imagery typically takes many months."

Enjoy -- It's fun, it's free, and a great way to lose yourself for a few hours!

Source:

Google Earth

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com