You can only use analytical terrain data on the scenario's central body.
STK only supports the Planetary Data System (PDS) data format for terrain data on bodies other than Earth. The MOLA Terrain (LBL) format STK uses for lunar and Martian terrain data is a subset of PDS. The LBL files should always be accompanied by their respective IMG equivalent. SLDEM2015 and GDR data are both accepted formats.
Once you download this analytical terrain data, you can convert it to visual terrain (*.pdtt files) using the standard Image Converter or Terrain Converter scenario tools. As of STK12, the command line tool AgAsDtedConvert.exe is the quickest way to convert terrain from the LOLA LBL and IMG format types. See the attached zip folder for a sample file and syntax to complete this work flow.
Moon
There is some low resolution lunar terrain data at 0.25 x 0.25 degrees available online at PDS Geosciences Node.
The files required are topogrd2.img and topogrd2.lbl in the /images directory.
Additional tiled files of higher resolution are located at LOLA PDS Data Node.
To see a video tutorial for using lunar terrain data, go to the AGI YouTube channel .
Mars
You can download Mars terrain data from PDS Geosciences Node.
Each data set requires IMG and LBL files. To get to the files, click the links to the directories, like "MEG128" in the yellow table.
For a detailed list of all the supported LBL file keywords, see Support for PDS Topographic Information. Only "PLANETOCENTRIC" is supported for Coordinate System. If you have "MEAN EARTH/POLAR AXIS OF DE421", it is acceptable to simply change it to "PLANETOCENTRIC" because STK also uses the ME (Mean Earth) frame for the Moon. It also relies on the DE421 file, and it also models the Moon’s reference shape with a sphere of radius of 1737.4 km (resulting in a planetocentric latitude).
For other terrain formats like DEM or DTED, STK will only accept data that is formatted to an Earth datum, such as WGS84. It is possible to use third-party terrain conversion programs to reformat interplanetary data into a file referencing an Earth datum, but this will introduce errors. Even though STK will accept such a file, the terrain reference and any subsequent analysis will be inaccurate. For accurate analysis, any data must be in the appropriate PDS format.
AGI continues to evaluate other terrain formats and interplanetary data to natively support in future versions of STK.
