Digital cartography of Mars

A medium-resolution Digital Image Model (DIM) of Mars is being compiled. A DIM is a mosaic of radiometrically corrected, photometrically modelled spacecraft images displaying accurate reflectance properties at uniform resolution, and geometrically tied to the best available control. The Mars medium-resolution DIM contains approximately 4700 Viking Orbiter image frames that were used to compile the recently completed 1:2,000,000-scale controlled photomosaic series of Mars. This DIM provides a planimetric control base to which all other Mars maps will be registered. A similar control base of topographic elevations (Digital Terrain Model, or DTM) is also being compiled. These products are scheduled for completion in 1989

Status and future of extraterrestrial mapping programs

Extensive mapping programs have been completed for the Earth's Moon and for the planet Mercury. Mars, Venus, and the Galilean satellites of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto), are currently being mapped. The two Voyager spacecraft are expected to return data from which maps can be made of as many as six of the satellites of Saturn and two or more of the satellites of Uranus. The standard reconnaissance mapping scales used for the planets are 1:25,000,000 and 1:5,000,000; where resolution of data warrants, maps are compiled at the larger scales of 1:2,000,000, 1:1,000,000 and 1:250,000. Planimetric maps of a particular planet are compiled first. The first spacecraft to visit a planet is not designed to return data from which elevations can be determined. As exploration becomes more intensive, more sophisticated missions return photogrammetric and other data to permit compilation of contour maps

Cartography of irregularly shaped satellites

Irregularly shaped satellites, such as Phobos and Amalthea, do not lend themselves to mapping by conventional methods because mathematical projections of their surfaces fail to convey an accurate visual impression of the landforms, and because large and irregular scale changes make their features difficult to measure on maps. A digital mapping technique has therefore been developed by which maps are compiled from digital topographic and spacecraft image files. The digital file is geometrically transformed as desired for human viewing, either on video screens or on hard copy. Digital files of this kind consist of digital images superimposed on another digital file representing the three-dimensional form of a body

Mars high-resolution mapping

A series of photomosaics of high-resolution Viking Orbiter images of Mars is being prepared and published to support the Mars 1:500,000 scale geologic mapping program. More than 100 of these photomosaics were made manually, but for the last several years they have all been made digitally. The digital mosaics are published on the Mars Transverse Mercator (MTM) system, and they are also available to the appropriate principal investigators as digital files in the mosaicked digital image model (MDIM) format. The mosaics contain Viking Orbiter images with the highest available resolution: in some areas as high as 10 m/pixel. This resolution, where it exists, will support a 1:100,000 map scale. The full resolution of a mosaic is preserved in a digital file, but conventional lithographic publication of such large-scale inset maps will be done only if required by the geologic map author. When high-resolution images do not full the neatlines of an MTM quadrangle, the medium-resolution (1/256 degrees/pixel, or 231 m/pixel) MDIM is used. The mosaics are tied by image-matching to the planetwide MDIM, in which random errors as large as 5 km (10 mm at 1:500,000 scale) are common; a few much larger, worst-case errors also occur. Because of the distribution of the errors, many large discrepancies appear along the cutlines between frames with very different resolutions. Furthermore, each block of quadrangles is compiled on its own local control system, and adjacent blocks, compiled later, are unlikely to match. Selection of areas to be mapped is based on geologic mapping proposals reviewed and recommended by the Mars 1:500,000 scale geologic mapping review panel. There is no intention to map the entire planet at this scale

Naming the newly found landforms on Venus

The mapping of Venus is unique in the history of cartigraphy; never has so much territory been discovered and mapped in so short a period of time. Therefore, in the interest of international scientific communication, there is a unique urgency to the development of a system of names for surface features on Venus. The process began with the naming of features seen on radar images taken from Earth and continued through mapping expeditions of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. However, the Magellan Mission resolves features twenty-five times smaller than those mapped previously, and its radar data will cover an area nearly equivalent to that of the continents and the sea-floors of the Earth combined. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) was charged with the formal endorsement of names of features on the planets. Proposed names are collected, approved, and applied through the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) and its task groups, prior to IAU approval by the IAU General Assembly. Names approved by the WGPSN and its task groups, prior to final approval may be used on published maps and articles, provided that their provisional nature is stipulated. The IAU has established themes for the names to be used on each of the planets; names of historical and mythological women are used on Venus. Names of political entities and those identified with active religions are not acceptable, and a person must have been deceased for three years or more to be considered. Any interested person may propose a name for consideration by the IAU

Digital solar system geology

All available synoptic maps of the solid-surface bodies of the Solar System were digitized for presentation in the planned Atlas of the Solar System by Greeley and Batson. Since the last report (Batson et al., 1990), preliminary Uranian satellite maps were replaced with improved versions, Galilean satellite geology was simplified and digitized, structure was added to many maps, and the maps were converted to a standard format, with corresponding standing colors for the mapped units. Following these changes, the maps were re-reviewed by their authors and are now undergoing final editing before preparation for publication. In some cases (for Mercury, Venus, and Mars), more detailed maps were digitized and then simplified for the Atlas. Other detailed maps are planned to be digitized in the coming year for the Moon and the Galilean satellites. For most of the remaining bodies such as the Uranian satellites, the current digitized versions contain virtually all the detail that can be mapped given the available data; those versions will be unchanged for the Atlas. These digital geologic maps are archived at the digital scale of 1/16 degree/ pixel, in sinusoidal format. The availability of geology of the Solar System in a digital database will facilitate comparisons and integration with other data: digitized lunar geologic maps have already been used in a comparison with Galileo SSI observations of the Moon

Voyager cartography

The Jovian and Saturnian satellites are being mapped at several scales from Voyager 1 and 2 data. The maps are especially formatted color mosaics, controlled photomosaics, and airbrush maps. At 1:5,000,000 scale, mapping of Io, Europa, and Ganymede is complete. At 1:15,000,000 scale, mapping of Io and Europa is complete, and mapping of Ganymede is approximately complete. A controlled mosaic of Rhea has been compiled as a Digital Image Model (DIM) in the same format as is being used for Mars. The mosaic is being formatted for publication as a two-sheet set (Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area, Mercator, and Polar Stereographic projections). Magnetic tape copies of the DIM have been distributed to regional Planetary Image Facilities and other interested users. The DIM has a scale of 1/16 degree/pixel, corresponding to approximately 833 m/pixel on Rhea. Details of the status of the various map series are reported quarterly to Planetary Geology Principal Investigators

Preliminary catalog of pictures taken on the lunar surface during the Apollo 16 mission

A catalog of all pictures taken from the lunar module or the lunar surface during the Apollo 16 lunar stay is presented. The tabulations are arranged for the following specific uses: (1) given the number of a particular frame, find its location in the sequence of lunar surface activity, the station from which it was taken and the subject matter of the picture; (2) given a particular location or activity within the sequence of lunar surface activity, find the pictures taken at that time and their subject matter; and (3) given a sample number from the voice transcript listed, find the designation assigned to the same sample by the lunar receiving laboratory

Voyager 1 and 2 Atlas of Six Saturnian Satellites

Maps, compiled with data gathered primarily by Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, are presented which show the diversity among six of the Saturnian moons. Mimas and Enceladus are mapped in detail. Prelimary maps are given for the other four satellites. Diameter, density, albedo, and distance from mother planet, among much more data, is given for each moon

Planetary atlases

Two kinds of planetary map atlases are in production. Atlases of the first kind contain reduced-scale versions of maps in hard-bound books with dimensions of 11 x 14 inches. These new atlases are intended to: (1) provide concise but comprehensive references to the geography of the planets needed by planetary scientists and others; and (2) allow inexpensive access to the planetary map dataset without requiring acquisition and examination of tens or hundreds of full-size map sheets. Two such atlases have been published and a third is in press. Work was begun of an Atlas of the Satellite of the Outer Planets. The second kind of atlas is a popular or semi-technical version designed for commercial publication and distribution. The first edition, The Atlas of the Solar System, is nearly ready for publication. New funding and contracting constraints now make it unlikely that the atlas can be published in the format originally planned. Currently, the possibility of publishing the maps through the U.S. Geological Survey as a series of folios in the I-map series is being explored. The maps are global views of each solid-surface body of the Solar System. Each map shows airbrushed relief, albedo, and, where available, topography. A set of simplified geologic maps is also included. All of the maps are on equal-area projections. Scales are 1:40,000,000 for the Earth and Venus; 1:2,000,000 for the Saturnian satellites Mimas and Enceladus and the Uranian satellite Miranda; 1:100,000 for the Martian satellites, Phobos and Deimos; and 1:10,000,000 for all other bodies