JMARS

Clear, up-to-date instructions for using basic JMARS tools, map layers, and overlays to explore Mars and other planetary bodies. Apply what you know about Earth science to understand other planetary objects!

Look closely. Wonder. Ask your own questions. Use JMARS to investigate them.

Download JMARS

Quick Start — find your way around JMARS

More about JMARS

Need a place to begin?

Explore one of these investigations and see what questions the data raise.

Elevation Color Legend for Explore Map Layer (NASA) - zoom levels 1-32 ppd

Blue = low elevation Red/White = high elevation

Keep the “MOLA Shaded Relief/Colorized Elevation” layer turned on when using JMARS tools.

Measure Distance

How wide is Olympus Mons based on this measurement?

Explore Terrain in 3D

How does vertical exaggeration
reveal surface features?

Surface Materials

What is the surface made of?
What clues reveal its composition?

Compare Elevation

Raised or a depression?
What does the profile show?

Zoom in Further

“What advantage does HiRISE give rovers?”

Compare Temperature

What changes between day and night—and why?

JMARS also lets you explore other planetary bodies:

Enter Other Worlds....

*Resources and Help

We study to understand.
We measure. We map. We name.

But then we look at Mars—

we begin to wonder

its story.