Ever wondered what it feels like to fly over an alien landscape? Check out the Mars3D channel on YouTube, where you’ll find all sorts of simulated flyovers of landmarks on Mars from digital elevation models produced by the HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Here’s a cool one showing Zumba Crater. It’s important to get a sense of scale before diving in though – in this simulation while the camera looks like it is traveling slowly, it’s actually ‘moving’ at around 160k/hr (100mph). The crater itself is approximately 600 meters deep and 3km in diameter:
For more information about Zumba Crater, check out its HiRISE page at the University of Arizona.
(Hat tip to The Planetary Society blog)
