46k Mars Displacement Map

Need to produce stunning images of Mars but all you can find are old low-resolution textures on websites long forgotten by time, or a wild maze of links to scientific archives with horrific naming and obscure file extensions? Not to worry, I've done all of that for you and you can now just skip to the fun part of creating great visuals.

Creating planetary imagery is a strong passion of mine and to produce the best possible results you need the highest quality source material. I've poured countless hours into acquiring, processing and converting planetary maps into formats usable by artists, and that work has translated into what some may call ludicrous textures. I call it future proof.

This height map was derived from the data gathered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and it's Laser Altimeter instrument. The orbiter obtained imagery of the planet from 1997 to 2006, when a software error caused a loss of contact.

From this data I've produced a very high quality 16-bit displacement map of the entire Mars. The maximum resolution is fairly high at 46080 by 23040, which means the detail level is amazing and stands up to close scrutiny. Every crater, mountain, plateau and ancient riverbed is represented in the map, creating an intricately detailed landscape you could easily admire for hours.

Please note that due to the nature of the projection the accuracy of the map is lower the closer you get to the poles. The resolution should still be more than sufficient for high quality closeups.

You can find some neat renders I made with the map on my ArtStation page: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XP1Ll