Last updated: 2026-10-26

Credits and Attributions

What is real and what is original

Real data

The missions, images, relief, the “Mars by the Numbers” figures, planetary positions and the facts of exploration are based on real data from space agencies and scientific sources (NASA, ESA, JPL, CNSA and others). They are rounded and simplified for outreach purposes.

The Martian calendar is the author’s own

The Martian calendar (Martian Horizon Time Standard, MH-STD-001) is a creation of the site’s author: it is not official and no space agency recognises it. It has been built with great rigour and links faithfully and consistently with the rest of the site (missions, events, converter and orbital map), but it is a standard of its own.

The Mars Atlas is fiction

The Mars Atlas is a futuristic vision of how Mars might develop around Martian year 100. Its cities, roads, ports and populations do not exist and do not follow any real plan: it has nothing to do with reality, except that certain original place names and the planet’s real relief have been used as a base.

None of it should be used to plan real missions or is presented as official information. See the Terms of Use and the Credits.

Images and video

Some of the images and videos in the media library and news come from space agencies such as NASA (including JPL-Caltech) and ESA, and from other institutions and authors. Each item keeps the authorship and terms of use of its origin: NASA’s are governed by its media usage guidelines, which in general allow educational and outreach use without implying endorsement by the agency, and ESA’s are published, depending on the case, under its own licences (for example CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO). Some illustrations are artistic recreations.

If you own any material and want its attribution corrected or the material removed, write to missioncontrol@martianhorizon.com.

Calculation models and data

Planetary positions: approximate Keplerian elements of the major planets published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, NASA), E. M. Standish, “Keplerian Elements for Approximate Positions of the Major Planets”.
Transfer trajectories: solution of Lambert’s problem using universal variables (classical astrodynamics formulation, e.g. Bate, Mueller and White; Battin).
Martian year and seasons: Martian year numbering following the scientific convention (year 1 on 11 April 1955) and seasons by solar longitude (Ls).
Martian calendar and time: Martian Horizon Time Standard (MH-STD-001), an original creation of this project.

What is real and what is original

Based on real data: missions and their chronology, agency images, relief (MOLA laser altimetry from Mars Global Surveyor) and the “Mars by the Numbers” figures (NASA Mars Fact Sheet, JPL, ESA, CNSA and the scientific papers cited on that page).
Author’s creation, not official: the MH-STD-001 Martian calendar and its tools; rigorous and linked with the rest of the site, but without recognition from any agency.
Fiction: the Mars Atlas (cities, roads, ports, regions, populations and their stories), a futuristic vision drawn over the real relief, with some original names of geographic features; it bears no relation to reality.

Typefaces

Orbitron and Exo, served through Google Fonts under the SIL Open Font License.

Images and video

Calculation models and data

What is real and what is original

Typefaces

Initiate Telemetry