Mars MOLA Viewer offers a fly-over simulation of the Martian terrain using data collected by the Mars Global Surveyor.
Mars MOLA Viewer is a software that presents a fly-over rendering of the Martian surface, as measured by the Mars Global Surveyor, in a real-time 3D animation. It makes use of the Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter topographic data files to drive its rendering. With this software, the user can control the position and angle of the camera and seamlessly move over the entire Martian surface from -88 to 88 degrees latitude.
This program is a Java Web Start software and can be easily installed from the browser with just one click, depending on the platform/browser. For a smooth experience, the software strongly encourages users to have broadband internet access. The reason is that the program downloads the topographic data files from the official MOLA site, which are quite large files (16 files totaling 2 GB, with each file being about 128 MB). Without broadband access, downloading each of these files could take up to 10 hours or more.
To view the terrain, the user doesn't need to download all the files. If the user intends to download only some of the files, it is recommended to download the area around the Valles Marineris for interesting terrain. The software itself is about 2 MB, but if the user also needs to install Java, which is required to run the software, there is an additional 10 MB download.
Mars MOLA Viewer has been tested and is expected to run on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Linux x86/Linux x86_64 PC's. If you are interested in helping with a port to another platform that supports Java and OpenGL, you can contact the developers. If you have correct OpenGL drivers, the software may run on Windows ME or Windows 98. To achieve acceptable performance, the user will need at least 256 MB of memory and a >1 GHz CPU and/or a video chip that provides transform and lighting acceleration, such as an ATI Radeon or NVidia GeForce.
The Java 1.4+ runtime with Java Web Start is also required. If the user runs Mars MOLA Viewer from the launch link, the required Java components should automatically download if they don't have them. In the new release, Mars MOLA Viewer now incorporates a Mars clock that allows the user to view real-time 3D terrain renders showing the sun and lighting appropriately for the location, season, and time. Users can watch the sun rise or set on Mars and see the sun shift with the changing seasons. Additionally, the software has a bookmark feature that helps users remember points of interest and return for further exploration. There's new support for Linux running natively on AMD-64, as well as Linux and Windows on i386.
This program is a Java Web Start software and can be easily installed from the browser with just one click, depending on the platform/browser. For a smooth experience, the software strongly encourages users to have broadband internet access. The reason is that the program downloads the topographic data files from the official MOLA site, which are quite large files (16 files totaling 2 GB, with each file being about 128 MB). Without broadband access, downloading each of these files could take up to 10 hours or more.
To view the terrain, the user doesn't need to download all the files. If the user intends to download only some of the files, it is recommended to download the area around the Valles Marineris for interesting terrain. The software itself is about 2 MB, but if the user also needs to install Java, which is required to run the software, there is an additional 10 MB download.
Mars MOLA Viewer has been tested and is expected to run on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Linux x86/Linux x86_64 PC's. If you are interested in helping with a port to another platform that supports Java and OpenGL, you can contact the developers. If you have correct OpenGL drivers, the software may run on Windows ME or Windows 98. To achieve acceptable performance, the user will need at least 256 MB of memory and a >1 GHz CPU and/or a video chip that provides transform and lighting acceleration, such as an ATI Radeon or NVidia GeForce.
The Java 1.4+ runtime with Java Web Start is also required. If the user runs Mars MOLA Viewer from the launch link, the required Java components should automatically download if they don't have them. In the new release, Mars MOLA Viewer now incorporates a Mars clock that allows the user to view real-time 3D terrain renders showing the sun and lighting appropriately for the location, season, and time. Users can watch the sun rise or set on Mars and see the sun shift with the changing seasons. Additionally, the software has a bookmark feature that helps users remember points of interest and return for further exploration. There's new support for Linux running natively on AMD-64, as well as Linux and Windows on i386.
What's New
Version MD20060802: N/A