Clear, up-to-date instructions for using basic JMARS tools, map layers, and overlays to explore Mars and other planetary bodies.

Start with a question. Use JMARS to figure it out.

Ask questions. Explore answers. Here's how. Click an investigation below for step-by- step instructions.

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.

How wide is Olympus Mons based on this measurement?

How does vertical exaggeration
reveal surface features?

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

Raised or a depression?
What does the profile show?

“What advantage does HiRISE give rovers?”

What changes between day and night—and why?

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

But then we look at Mars—

we begin to wonder

its story.