Until a rocket can take you there, here's your best chance to explore the Red Planet's craters, volcanos, lava flows, and water-carved channels.

This detailed global image of Mars was assembled from more than 17,000 individual photo-frames. These were taken in infrared light by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a multi-wavelength camera on the Mars Odyssey orbiter. Mars Odyssey was built by Lockheed Martin and is a mission operated for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

At Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility - THEMIS' home base - programming guru Noel Gorelick wrote software to merge the individual infrared frames into large tiles, each covering 30° of longitude and latitude on a side; two circular tiles cover the poles. The tiles were then joined to create a global image that shows features as small as 230 meters (750 feet) wide.

THEMIS' infrared images provide a unique view of Mars, melding day and night. Areas that appear darker are cooler, while brighter areas are warmer. Other global Mars datasets are also available for downloading. These form part of the flexible and powerful JMARS geographical information system.

The global map is still being improved. A few areas remain yet-unphotographed; these appear in gray. And THEMIS scientists regularly replace less-than-perfect frames - due to clouds or haze in the martian atmosphere for example - when better-quality ones become available.

While this image map presents a global view, you can also get a closer, more detailed view of the Grand Canyon of Mars, Valles Marineris.