Explore Mars with JMARS
About Me
I’m a retired middle and high school physics, geoscience, and STEM teacher who taught for 30 years. Over the past several years, I've become interested in JMARS and its evolving tools. I created this website to keep instructions up to date and make it easier for students, teachers, researchers, and anyone curious to explore Mars and other planetary bodies using JMARS. My goal is to help users navigate planetary data without needing advanced technical skills or memorizing complex procedures.
This site is designed to be simple, readable, and easy to use. Because it relies heavily on images and JMARS data, some content may not be fully accessible in text form.
Often, we can apply what we already know about Earth’s geology to explore and better understand Mars and other planetary bodies. Students can zoom into Mars using these tools, observe surface features, ask their own questions, and investigate the planet’s history—looking for evidence of glaciers, volcanic activity, floods, valleys, faults, and more, while considering how and when these features formed.
As stated on the JMARS website, JMARS is:
"an acronym for Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing. It is a geospatial information system (GIS) developed by ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility to provide mission planning and data-analysis tools to NASA scientists, instrument team members, students of all ages, and the general public. JMARS has been available to the public since 2003 and is used in over 65 countries with more than 6,000 active users."
This site keeps JMARS instructions in one place so you can return to them as needed.
The Future of Mars Explorer
After developing and maintaining Mars Explorer in retirement, I am interested in finding an educator, scientist, educational organization, or institution that might carry its ideas and resources forward.
I would be happy to transfer the site and its materials without charge. A future steward would be free to update, adapt, incorporate, or reimagine the project rather than preserve it in its current form.
If this possibility interests you, please contact me.
Questions? Comments? Interested in the future of Mars Explorer?
Email me, Mrs. Jackie Kane, at usingrs@gmail.com.