Mars
Map settings
Planet positions: 2026–2027. Moon ephemerides: 1 Sep–1 Dec 2026. Dates are UTC. Orbit diagrams are identified separately.
Mars 3D Map
Explore the landscape of Mars, follow its two small moons and look beneath the crust. Switch between a georeferenced surface, a cutaway interior, Sun-centred orbits and the places where robotic explorers touched down.
A planet of extraordinary landscapes
From Tharsis volcanoes to impact basins and ancient lake environments, each selectable marker identifies a named region or a landing site. Use the location finder to reach all 26 curated locations. Region centres are separate from rover landing coordinates.
Olympus Mons
The largest named volcano on Mars. Marker uses the USGS detailed-outline centre.
Valles Marineris
A vast equatorial canyon complex stretching across the Tharsis-facing hemisphere.
Hellas Planitia
One of the deepest and largest impact basins in the southern hemisphere.
Gale
Curiosity rover's crater, centered just south of the equator.
Jezero
Perseverance rover's crater near the western edge of Isidis Planitia.
North polar region
Water ice and seasonal carbon-dioxide frost occur at the poles. The marker denotes the geographic pole; cap extent is not a live seasonal measurement.
Surface imagery and real elevation
The default 4K surface is a reduced NASA Viking mosaic distributed by Arizona State University. The alternative 2K image is your original Universe Map surface asset. Both use north-up, east-positive geographic registration. MOLA laser-altimeter data supplies the relief and topographic colour mode.
Enhanced relief exaggerates elevation by ×5 or ×10. Choose ×1 for measured height differences on a reference sphere, or Off for a smooth globe. The 0.5° terrain grid resolves regional landforms, not individual rocks. Its elevations are relative to the GMM3 areoid; this is a visual terrain model, not a navigation product.
| Named feature | Latitude | Longitude | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympus Mons | 18.65° | 226.20°E | USGS record |
| Valles Marineris | -14.01° | 301.41°E | USGS record |
| Tharsis Montes | 1.57° | 247.42°E | USGS record |
| Noctis Labyrinthus | -6.36° | 258.81°E | USGS record |
| Hellas Planitia | -42.43° | 70.50°E | USGS record |
| Argyre Planitia | -49.84° | 316.69°E | USGS record |
| Utopia Planitia | 46.74° | 117.52°E | USGS record |
| Isidis Planitia | 13.94° | 88.38°E | USGS record |
| Elysium Mons | 25.02° | 147.21°E | USGS record |
| Syrtis Major Planum | 9.20° | 67.10°E | USGS record |
| Gale | -5.37° | 137.81°E | USGS record |
| Jezero | 18.21° | 77.62°E | USGS record |
| Ascraeus Mons | 11.92° | 255.92°E | USGS record |
| Pavonis Mons | 1.48° | 247.04°E | USGS record |
| Arsia Mons | -8.26° | 239.91°E | USGS record |
Phobos and Deimos
Phobos
Approximately 26 × 22.8 × 18.2 km. Its orbit takes about 7.65 hours, faster than Mars rotates. Mean orbital radius is about 9,378 km, measured from the planet’s centre.
Deimos
Approximately 15.6 × 12 × 10.2 km. An orbit takes about 30.30 hours. Mean orbital radius is about 23,459 km from Mars’s centre.
Small bodies, large distances
Readable mode enlarges the moons to make their supplied 3D models visible. Physical mode uses one length scale for Mars, moons and distances. The readout always reports the original physical distance.
Both moons rotate synchronously. The model keeps a calibrated long shape axis toward Mars using the dated orbital frame. The same model hemisphere faces Mars; texture prime meridians and physical libration are not registered. Positions use cached NASA/JPL Horizons vectors from 1 September to 1 December 2026, interpolated between samples.
Inside Mars
Interior boundaries are inferred from seismic and geophysical models. Compare a 2023 model with a molten silicate layer above a smaller liquid core against the 2025 study reporting evidence for a solid inner core of 613 ± 67 km radius. The cutaway is schematic, and crust thickness is enlarged so it remains visible.
These are alternative scientific interpretations, not a direct photograph or a single settled measurement of every boundary. Mars has no present global dynamo field; its ancient crust retains local magnetism. The thin atmospheric rim is illustrative and does not simulate live weather.
Mars around the Sun
Sun & Orbit shows geometric Earth and Mars positions from NASA/JPL Horizons for 2026–2027. Axes follow the J2000 ecliptic; Mars’s spin uses the IAU orientation in NAIF PCK00011. The solar longitude Ls readout describes the season: 0° is northern spring, 90° summer, 180° autumn and 270° winter.
Readable mode enlarges the planets and Sun. Physical mode preserves radius-to-distance ratios, so the bodies become extremely small. Earth distance and one-way vacuum light time are geometric calculations, not a communications latency forecast.
Robotic exploration of Mars
The mission view marks nine historical touchdown locations. Curiosity and Perseverance continue to explore, but their markers identify their landing sites. Follow the official mission links for current rover maps and traverse updates. Ingenuity’s flight mission ended in January 2024; InSight’s mission ended in December 2022.
| Mission | Landing · UTC | Landing coordinates | Status · checked 15 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viking 1 | 1976-07-20 | 22.27°, 312.05°E | Completed |
| Viking 2 | 1976-09-03 | 48.27°, 134.28°E | Completed |
| Pathfinder / Sojourner | 1997-07-04 | 19.47°, 326.75°E | Completed |
| Spirit | 2004-01-04 | -14.57°, 175.48°E | Completed |
| Opportunity | 2004-01-25 | -1.95°, 354.47°E | Completed |
| Phoenix | 2008-05-25 | 68.22°, 234.25°E | Completed |
| Curiosity | 2012-08-06 | -4.59°, 137.44°E | Operating rover · landing marker |
| InSight | 2018-11-26 | 4.50°, 135.62°E | Completed |
| Perseverance | 2021-02-18 | 18.44°, 77.45°E | Operating rover · landing marker |
Orbital missions
Select an orbital mission in the 3D finder to inspect a labelled design ellipse. These lines communicate orbit size and inclination; their node and phase are schematic. No marker claims to show a live orbiter position.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
High-resolution surface imaging and communications relay. Orbit shown only as a design diagram.
Mars Express
ESA’s long-running Mars orbiter studies the surface, subsurface and atmosphere. Design diagram only.
Trace Gas Orbiter
ESA’s atmospheric chemistry and relay mission. Circular 400 km design orbit; no live spacecraft marker.
MAVEN
Mission ended in 2026. Last contact: 6 December 2025. Included in mission history, without a current-position marker.
Questions about the Mars map
Is this a live video of Mars?
No. This is an interactive scientific visualization. Its date drives cached geometric ephemerides and a calculated Mars rotation. Surface images and elevation are mission mosaics collected earlier.
Why do the moons look larger than their real sizes?
At a planetary scale the real moons occupy very few pixels. Readable mode enlarges them for inspection. Select Physical sizes & distances to compare their actual scale. Numeric distances do not change between these display choices.
Can I inspect a crater or a rover landing site?
Use the focus menu or search button. Selecting a location turns it toward the camera, pauses the simulation and opens its coordinates and source. A landing marker is separate from the centre of its surrounding crater.
Why can I only select some dates?
The bundled planet dataset covers 1 January 2026 to 1 January 2028. The denser moon dataset covers 1 September to 1 December 2026. The moon view limits its date picker to that range; the animation pauses at a boundary instead of inventing a position.
Are the interior layers exact?
No. They are a labelled comparison of published models. Layer thickness, inferred core size and composition remain areas of research. The displayed crust is intentionally thickened.
Data and credits
- NASA Mars fact sheet — physical parameters and moon dimensions.
- NASA Viking / ASU global mosaic — reduced, reassembled for the globe; colour is a processed mosaic.
- NASA PDS MOLA MEGDR — 0.25° source averaged to a 0.5° elevation grid.
- IAU / USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature — named-feature centres and approximate extents.
- NASA/JPL Horizons and NAIF PCK00011 — dated geometric vectors and Mars orientation.
- NASA GISS Mars24 lander catalogue — rounded historical landing coordinates, not current rover positions.
- NASA Mars24 algorithms — solar longitude approximation.
- Samuel et al. (2023) and Bi et al. (2025) — alternative interior models; no claim of settled boundaries.
- Phobos and Deimos: supplied Universe Map GLB assets. Long shape axes aligned for synchronous inspection; texture longitude remains illustrative. Rendering uses Three.js, MIT licence.
Prepared 15 October 2026. Mission status is a dated editorial snapshot; the page does not poll mission telemetry.