High resolution DEM from stereopairs: examples from Nili Fossae and Gale crater, Mars

Paolo Mancinelli, Cristina Pauselli & Costanzo Federico
Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Via A. Pascoli, 06123 Perugia, Italia.

In this work, we present two Digital Elevation Models (DEM) obtained from stereopairs produced by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Target regions are chosen among the most intriguing and studied of Mars and are the western trench of the Nili Fossae and the northern portion of the central peak of the Gale crater. The terrains found in the first have proven to have a significant compositional variability whose spatial distribution is related to their morphology. The canyon found in the Gale crater is important to extend the comprehension of those geologic processes observed by the Curiosity rover, up to a distance and a morphologic context (the wall of the canyon) unreachable by the rover. The high resolution of the HiRISE images (0.25 m/pixel) from which we started allowed us to produce the DEM with higher resolution and increased detail respect to the topographic model derived from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data.

Mars, Stereopairs DEM, Nili Fossae, Gale Crater.