The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) is a satellite on the Mars Global Surveyor designed to map the martian global topography and can also be used to measure the height of water and carbon dioxide clouds. The MOLA works by transmitting a laser pulse down towards the surface. The pulse is reflected off the surface (or cloud) back to the instrument, where the return is detected. The two-way travel time is recorded, giving a measure of the distance between the spacecraft and the surface. Corrections are made to this distance based on atmospheric effects and accurate tracking of the spacecraft position allows an estimate of the surface altitude or cloud height. A large number of surface altimetry measurements will be taken, and combined to produce a global topographic map.
The color coding d
isplayed in these two images is for altitude, blue is lowest, red is high and white is the highest. [top image is of Hellas Hemisphere and the bottom one is of the Tharsis Hemisphere]
The color coding d
isplayed in these two images is for altitude, blue is lowest, red is high and white is the highest. [top image is of Hellas Hemisphere and the bottom one is of the Tharsis Hemisphere]
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