A COMBINED TOPOGRAPHIC-THEMATIC MAP OF THE CENTAURI AND HELLAS MONTES AREA, MARS

Since January 2004, Mars Express brings us an unprecedented wealth of spectacular multispectral digital image data of high resolution as well as systematic stereo coverage of the Martian surface. During the past two years, the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board of Mars Express covered more than half of the Martian surface, whereas 27 % of the data already obtained is provided in resolutions better than 20 m/pixel. HRSC images are processed systematically to various data levels. Based on these products, high-quality large-scale topographic and thematic image maps are generated. The standard map series for the Mars Express Mission is the Topographic Image Map Mars 1:200,000, which covers the planet’s surface in 10,372 individual map sheets. The Centauri and Hellas Montes assembly of remnant massifs, located at 97 ° east and 38 ° south, has been interpreted as crustal uplifts and ejected material from the Hellas impact event in early Martian history. Recent investigations of this area resulted in the discovery of a degraded caldera complex, a structure, which has formerly been interpreted as impact crater structure. The discovery of this collapsed caldera feature bears new implications on the evolution of the Eastern Hellas rim assembly. The geologic map sheet of the Centauri and Hellas Montes area is spread from 95°00 ’ to 97°50 ’ eastern longitude and 36°45 ’ to 39°45 ’ southern latitude. This new thematic map project is realized in a close co-operation between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin-Adlershof, providing photogrammetric processing, the Institute for Geosciences, Remote Sensing of the Earth and Planets, Freie Universität Berlin for the geoscientific interpretation and the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation Science, Technische Universität Berlin, responsible for all cartographic aspects