China Releases Colored Global Maps From High Quality Planet Mars

Map of Mars published by China's space agency. (photo: dock. cnsa)

JAKARTA - China finally released its first global colored map from Mars on April 24, coinciding with Chinese Space Day 2023. Its spatial resolution of 76 meters provides better quality for Mars exploration and future scientific research projects.

The image of the colored map was shared by China's National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) at the launch event held in Hefei, Anhui Province, China.

The colorful image, along with scientific data obtained by the Mars Tianwen-1 mission, will help in deepening our understanding of the red planet, according to CNSA, quoted by local media CGTN.

The medium-resolution camera of the Tianwen-1 mission orbiter carried out 284 long-distance mapping tasks from November 2021 to July 2022, providing full-surface coverage of Mars. The soil application system processed 14,757 images to obtain images of planetary-colored maps.

"This process places high demands on orbit control," Zhang Rongqiao, principal designer of China's Mars Exploration Program, told CGTN in an interview on the sidelines of China's Space Day event.

He believes that the colors displayed on the map match the red planets.

"This full-colored Martian image not only provides a better quality base map for Mars exploration projects and upcoming scientific research in our country, but also for Mars exploration projects and scientific research of our international colleagues," Zhang said.

"I believe this is an important contribution made by Tianwen-1 to deep space exploration, for all mankind," he added.

Through these high-resolution images of Mars, researchers have identified a large number of geographic entities, 22 of which are named after historic and cultural villages and cities in China with a population of less than 100,000 by the International Astronomy Union under relevant rules.

China's Tianwen-1 Mars Prob was launched in July 2020 and entered Mars orbit in February 2021. The Rover landed and started operating in May 2021.

After completing the 90-day Martian scientific exploration task assigned, the rover has continued exploration on the red planet. The rover, which has traveled 1,921 meters in 358 days Mars, is now in sleep mode.