MOLA: The Future of Mars Global Cartography

Authors :: Duxbury, T. C
Smith, D. E
Zuber, M. T
Frey, H. V
Garvin, J. B
Head, J. W
Muhleman, D. O
Pettengill, G. H
Phillips, R. J
Solomon, S. C
Source :: The Fifth International Conference on Mars.
Publication Year :: 1999
Publisher :: United States: NASA Center for Aerospace Information (CASI), 1999.
Abstract: The MGS Orbiter is carrying the high-precision Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) which, when combined with precision reconstructed orbital data and telemetered attitude data, provides a tie between inertial space and Mars-fixed coordinates to an accuracy of 100 m in latitude / longitude and 10 m in radius (1 sigma), orders of magnitude more accurate than previous global geodetic/ cartographic control data. Over the 2 year MGS mission lifetime, it is expected that over 30,000 MOLA Global Cartographic Control Points will be produced to form the basis for new and re-derived map and geodetic products, key to the analysis of existing and evolving MGS data as well as future Mars exploration. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.