Atmospheric distortion looking down is not as severe as it is looking up. This is because the distortion subtends much greater angles looking up than looking down, since the distortion is close to the observer. Looking down, it’s also true that, at least in daytime, exposures are very short as well by virtue of the earth being very bright.
it's surface area also a lot smaller
However, the total surface area of Mars is roughly equal to the total land area of Earth.
If I wanted to make a textured globe, you just made my oceans totally smooth. Some of the tallest mountain ranges we have are in the area you just nulled out.
And how exactly would satellite imagery (no matter which wavelength range) help you texture the ocean floor in your globe?
nobody said optical wavelengths were the only meaning of imagery.
Turns out the surface of the ocean has ridges and valleys that match the seafloor, and these can be measured by radar from a satelite