Topographic image map of the Australe Scopuli region at the South Pole
Topographic image map of the Australe Scopuli region at the South Pole
The DLR High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express utilises its nine sensors to capture images of the Martian surface at right angles to the direction of flight and from various angles. By combining data from the two stereo channels – angled forwards and backwards – with data from the nadir channel, which looks vertically downwards, scientists at the DLR Institute for Planetary Research and Freie Universität Berlin produce digital terrain models that assign elevation information to each pixel. The colour scale in the upper right of the image represents altitude values relative to the areoid – an imaginary surface on Mars with equal gravitational potential used as an equivalent to sea level on Earth when measuring elevation. The height difference between the lowest-lying regions, coloured blue, in this hilly (scopuli) landscape, and the highest-lying areas on the left-hand side of the image, shown in beige tones, is approximately 1,300 metres.
