Some of our most spectacular views of Mars have been presented on small , skinny strips of imagery . Now , for the first time , scientists have joined these individual 30 to 60 mile ( 50 to 100km ) wide strips to create a single complete 3D map . The new map allows astronomers to 'stand ' on planetary surfaces and could help explain how water and lava once flowed across the red planet . Scroll down for video . Some of our most spectacular views of Mars have been presented on small , skinny strips of imagery.Now scientists have , for the first time , joined these individual 30 to 60 mile ( 50 to 100km ) wide strips together to create a single complete 3D map . Pictured is a view of a section of the image map Mosaic 'MC-11 East ' is on the right and the topographical view can be seen on the left . The warmer colours show a higher elevation . The colour-coded terrain models show the impressive height of the Meridiani Planum region at up to 820ft ( 250 metres ) above the surface , seen in red . This is in contrast to the blue 1,6404ft ( 5,000 metres ) depth of the lower-lying Chryse Planitia region . The first mosaic , pieced together by the German Aerospace Center ( DLR ) , comprises 1.4 million square miles ( 2.3 million square km ) of the surface . It covers the vast crater-strewn highland region of the red planet , parts of the Ares Vallis outflow channel , the chaotic Aram Chaos region as well as the Meridiani Planum and Chryse Planitia plains . The new map allows scientists to 'stand ' on planetary surfaces and could help explain how water and lava once flowed across Mars . Pictured is a colour-coded perspective view showing the topography of the upper course of Ares Vallis near the Chryse Planitia plains . Constructing a 3D model such as this requires a spacecraft to look at the same surface feature twice at a different angle . The High Resolution Stereo Camera ( HRSC ) on Mars Express is the only experiment that can do it with just one pass . HRSC has nine scan lines that point fore , aft and straight down . This allows it to see a feature on approach , when its underneath and as it fades into the background . HRSC has , during 14,000 orbits , transmitted 293.34 gigabytes of data to Earth . 'Gerhard Mercator and Carl Friedrich Gauss measured Earth , and with our survey of Mars we are following in their footsteps , ' says Ralf Jaumann , a DLR planetary scientist . The mosaic extends over 1,120 miles ( 1800km ) from north to south and 810 miles ( 1,300km ) from east to west . Individual stereo and colour images from a total of 89 Martian orbits were combined to create the map . 'The strips were recorded at varying resolutions , with the sun at different positions and under varying weather conditions , ' Jaumann said . 'The challenge was to combine them uniformly and without visible borders to form one large image . ' Perspective views look into the Ares Vallis outflow channel or into a crater altered by typical Mars erosion processes typical on Mars . 'At present , you can not create a better image of the surface of Mars to show , for example , of the effects of flood and drought , ' said Jaumann . Pictured are parts of the Ares Vallis outflow channel . Constructing a 3D model such as this requires a spacecraft to look at the same surface feature twice at a different angle . HRSC on Mars Express is the only experiment that can do it with just one pass . The data for this wide-area topography of Mars was acquired by Mars Express ' High Resolution Stereo Camera ( HRSC , ) which has been orbiting the red planet since 2003 . Nine sensors record the surface of the planet from different angles and make it possible to map our planetary neighbour at high resolution , in colour , and in the third dimension – elevation . HRSC has , during the course of more than 14,000 orbits , recorded and transmitted a total of 293.34 gigabytes of data to Earth . About 97 percent of the planet has been recorded with image resolutions of up to 330ft ( 100 metres ) . By around 2018 , the team from DLR , wants to represent the whole of Mars as one coherent mosaic . Pictured is the the strip up top of MC11 , showing the Ares Vallis region , in the context of the rest of the region covered by the DLR 's wide area topography survey . By around 2018 , the team from DLR , wants to represent the whole of Mars as one coherent mosaic .
The stunning mosaic could help scientists better understand how water and lava once flowed across Mars . Terrain model shows the impressive height of the Meridiani Planum region at up to 820ft ( 250 metres ) in red . Colder colours reveal craters , ditches and plains , which are particularly prominent in Chryse Planitia region . In 2003 , the German Aerospace Center wants to represent the whole of Mars as one coherent mosaic .