Digital mapping of the Mars Pathfinder landing site: Design, acquisition, and derivation of cartographic products for science applications

The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) acquired more than 16,000 images and p rovided panoramic views of the surface of Mars at the Mars Pathfinder landi ng site in Ares Vallis. This paper describes the stereoscopic, multispectra l IMP imaging sequences and focuses on their use for digital mapping of the landing site and for deriving cartographic products to support science app lications of these data. Two-dimensional cartographic processing of IMP dat a, as performed via techniques and specialized software developed for ISIS (the U.S.Geological Survey image processing software package), is emphasize d. Cartographic processing of IMP data includes ingestion, radiometric corr ection, establishment of geometric control, coregistration of multiple band s, reprojection, and mosaicking. Photogrammetric processing, an integral pa rt of this cartographic work which utilizes the three-dimensional character of the IMP data, supplements standard processing with geometric control an d topographic information [Kirk et al., this issue]. Both cartographic and photogrammetric processing are required for producing seamless image mosaic s and for coregistering the multispectral IMP data. Final, controlled IMP c artographic products include spectral cubes, panoramic (360 degrees azimuth al coverage) and planimetric (top view) maps, and topographic data, to be a rchived on four CD-ROM volumes. Uncontrolled and semicontrolled versions of these products were used to support geologic characterization of the landi ng site during the nominal and extended missions. Controlled products have allowed determination of the topography of the landing site and environs ou t to similar to 60 m, and these data have been used to unravel the history of large- and small-scale geologic processes which shaped the observed land ing site. We conclude by summarizing several lessons learned from cartograp hic processing of IMP data.