In 1996, the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) flew aboard Mars Global Surveyor. Using infrared laser pulses, it created a precise map of the planet's topography.
We're loading this data onto the awesome webgl-based voxel.js engine so that you can take a hike through Valles Marineris, climb up Olympus Mons and say hello to Curiosity on Gale Crater.
This release is a very early alpha; right now you can freely roam through the entire surface (well, except the poles) of a scaled down Mars; we're using the highest resolution map provided by NASA, at 463 meters per pixel. Since your avatar is ~1.5 voxel high, yes, you're seeing Mars through the eyes of a ~694m tall giant. Still, it would take about 1 hour and 47 minutes, walking non-stop, to go around the world.
Future ideas include:
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interpolate MOLA data as far as possible to get closer to human scale
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use HiGHRISE DTMs (available in select locations with a resolution of ~2m per pixel)
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a science-based (no dragons) survival mode on which you have to generate your oxygen and fuel, extract your water, grow your food, make martian bricks, etc
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use voxel-sky to add phobos and deimos
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add every lander and rover ever sent to Mars and put them at their correct locations
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allow player to fly in "tourism" mode
Clone repo and install dependencies
git clone https://github.com/rachel-carvalho/voxel-mars.git
npm i
Download the MOLA data (2GB total, might be a good idea to go get a cup of coffee)
npm run download
Slice them into smaller PNG files (should take less than 4 minutes)
npm run slice
Run with
npm start
And that's it! Go to http://localhost:3000/ and enjoy!