This is an experimental Mars Lithophane lampshade based on NASA Mars terrain data.

It attempts to depict Martian albedo shading (illumination) internally, and accurate Martian terrain (elevation) externally.

Achieving this in a lithophane was a challenge, as the albedo colour needed to be subtracted from the elevation data and then displaced internally against the terrain surface, towards the centre of the sphere, in order to achieve both visually good elevation, and correct relative wall thickness for the back-lighting effect to look right.

The resulting internal form from those two combined datasets looks weird and random, but is effective in creating the correct wall thickness which softly glows corresponding Martian surface albedo shades through the terrain.

So, In a nutshell, when the lamp is off, the plain white exterior looks like realistic Mars terrain elevation, and when the lamp's turned on, the back-lighting compliments the terrain contours with accurate albedo shaded illumination, glowing via the varying density of the walls (Lithophane effect).

This was designed for using with my bedside lamp, and features an 88mm hole at the south pole which aligns the lampshade with the base (centering it over the lightbulb for an even lighting effect)

I think it came out pretty good, although being printed in halves requires the two parts gluing along the equator, which did result in a thin seam line in the lighting effect.

August 2024 Update
On request i've added the complete unclipped globe for users to edit however they need to fit to their own lighting solution. The model is: MarsLithophane_Globe.stl