Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter
Instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft
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Planetary laser altimetry
A laser altimeter is an instrument that measures the distance from an orbiting spacecraft to the surface of the planet or asteroid that the spacecraft is orbiting. The distance is determined by measuring the complete round trip time of a laser pulse from the instrument to the body's surface, and back to the instrument.
The distance to the object can be determined by multiplying the round-trip pulse time by the speed of light and dividing it by two. With a known attitude and position of the instrument or spacecraft, the location on the surface, which is illuminated by the laser pulse can be determined. The series of the laser spot, or footprint, locations provides a profile of the surface.
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Pole-to-pole view
Above is a pole-to-pole view of Martian topography from the first MOLA global topographic model [Smith et al., Science, 1999]. The slice runs from the north pole (left) to the south pole (right) along the 0° longitude line. The figure highlights the pole-to-pole slope of 0.036°, such that the south pole has a higher elevation than the north pole from NASA Goddard Flight Center web site.