Planetary GIS: Visualizing Mars at Global and Rover Scales

Over two decades of successful missions to Mars has built an enormous volume of data that inform us of how the fourth planet has evolved over its history, in dramatic contrast to the Earth. Since we cannot yet send humans to Mars, our challenge is to bring Mars to Earth by using advanced visualization techniques and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) originally designed for terrestrial applications. This talk will use the exploration site for the Perseverance Rover on Mars, Jezero Crater, as a focal point for examining how we now explore other planets. We’ll discuss how we have learned about Jezero, from its discovery in 2004, to the arrival of Perseverance on February 18, 2021. This will provide a hyper-visual overview of the cutting edge of planetary visualization and exploration.

Jay Dickson

Jay Dickson is a planetary scientist at Caltech, where he runs the Bruce Murray Laboratory for Planetary Visualization in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. He is an expert in remote sensing of planetary surfaces and GIS, and has participated on NASA and ESA missions to Mars, Mercury and the Moon. His terrestrial geological experience includes 8 field seasons in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, where he collected high-resolution, high-frequency, long-duration time-lapse imagery of the Earth’s most Mars-like desert. His website is www.jaydickson.org.