Today's announcement is the latest benefit from a Space Act Agreement NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., signed with Google in November 2006. The new Mars mode also allows users to add their own 3D content to the Mars map to share with the world. Viewers can learn about new discoveries and explore indexes of available Mars imagery. Users can see some of the latest satellite imagery from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and other probes orbiting the Red Planet. Users also can explore the Red Planet through the eyes of the Mars rovers and other Mars missions, providing a unique perspective of the entire planet. The mode enables users to fly virtually through enormous canyons and scale huge mountains on Mars that are much larger than any found on Earth.

Besides providing a rich, immersive 3D view of Mars that will aid public understanding of Mars science, the new mode, Google Mars 3D, also gives researchers a platform for sharing data similar to what Google Earth provides for Earth scientists.

On 2 February 2009, NASA and Google released a new Mars mode in the new Google Earth 5.0 that brings to everyone's desktop a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of the Red Planet.

Explore mars in google earth 5.0