Digital Cartography with Hrsc on Mars Express

The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board of the European space mission Mars Express provides multispectral digital image data in high resolution as well as the systematic stereo coverage of our neighbouring planet. Thus, these data particularly meet the requirements of stereophotogrammetric processing and cartographic applications. Based on HRSC imagery, large-scale topographic and thematic map products of the Martian surface are generated by the Technical University of Berlin and other HRSC Co-Investigator team members. The main task is the production of the map series Topographic Image Map Mars 1:200,000. While the basics of this series have been defined earlier, it was updated e.g. by adopting the latest changes in Martian reference systems. These concepts as well as map sheet contents and layout are described and illustrated. The Topographic Image Map Mars 1:200,000 series is expected to be the guideline not only for Mars Express mapping purposes but also for large-scale planetary cartography in the future. As an innovation in extraterrestrial mapping, the production line is designed as an entirely digital process using the cartographic software system Planetary Image Mapper (PIMap) which is developed at the Technical University of Berlin.