[meteorite-list] MRO HiRISE Team Begins Releasing a Flood of Mars Images Over The Internet

Ron Baalke baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov
Wed Nov 29 13:55:00 EST 2006



HiRISE TEAM BEGINS RELEASING A FLOOD OF MARS IMAGES OVER THE INTERNET
(From Lori Stiles, University Communications, 520-626-4402)

 - Wednesday, November 29, 2006
 
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Contact information, Web links, photo links and captions at the end
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The University of Arizona-based team that operates the high-resolution
camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, in conjunction with NASA, is
releasing the first of what will be a non-stop flood of incredibly detailed
Mars images taken during the spacecraft's two-year primary science mission.

The High Resolution Science Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera took almost
100 images during the first two weeks of its main science mission, which
began Nov. 7. 

"There's no Earth analog for some places we see, while other places look
remarkably like Earth," said Professor Alfred S. McEwen of UA's Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory, HiRISE principal investigator. "The details we're
seeing are just fantastic."

The HiRISE team is posting about 15 of the new large images on the HiRISE
Website http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ today. Last week, they added more
than a dozen new Mars images, as well as reprocessed images, taken from low
orbit during test imaging in early October. The team plans to release the
latest HiRISE images on their Website every Wednesday.

The views released today show seemingly endless fields of sand dunes,
including some carved by gullies that possibly form when carbon dioxide or
water frost in the dunes is heated by sunlight, triggering avalanches of
flowing sand. Other HiRISE images show layered arid terrains that resemble
landscapes protected as national parks on our own planet, and a fossil delta
inside a crater that once held a lake. HiRISE images resolve meter-sized
blocks within the delta channel that may be blocks of sand and gravel
carried along as the channels eroded.

HiRISE images also capture numerous impact craters, including Endurance
crater that NASA's Opportunity rover explored for ten months of its now
nearly 3-year mission. Details visible in the HiRISE image of Opportunity's
landing site show the parachute lying on the Martian surface, Opportunity's
heat shield at a different location, and the lander itself on the floor of
the small impact crater where the airbag came to a stop.

Other images show layered polar terrains that likely record Martian climate
changes, and also polygon-patterned northern plains regions that are among
candidate landing sites for the Phoenix Lander spacecraft in 2008.

"You see stuff at this level of detail and you want to see more," said
Candy Hansen of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a HiRISE co-investigator who
has helped lead imaging operations at the HiRISE Operations Center (HiROC)
during the first weeks of the science mission this month.

"These images are at a geologist's scale," Hansen said. "A geologist could
hike the terrain seen in the width of one of our images, six kilometers, in
a day. These images bring the planet down to scales that match our own human
level of experience, and that's a big help with interpretation."

The HiRISE camera takes images of 3.5-mile-wide (6 kilometer) swaths as the
orbiter flies at about 7,800 mph between 155 and 196 miles (250 to 316 km)
above the planet. The camera resolves geologic features as small as 40
inches across. 

"It's been a constant race to look at all these images while we're planning
our future targets," McEwen said. "But it's important to examine the data so
we can learn how to use the best possible settings, and make decisions about
which targets we'll need to get in stereo or color."

HiRISE began a new imaging cycle last week (Nov. 19) and begins another
next week (Dec. 3). Over the next couple of weeks, the camera is targeting
"all the easy-to-find hardware on Mars," McEwen said. That includes NASA's
rover Spirit, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 landers, and Mars Pathfinder.

McEwen has been working a 12-hour day, seven days a week this month. The
rest of the team has been clocking major overtime, too.

"We're trying not to get people too burned out, but we have to keep up.
We're going to get about a hundred new images every two weeks without a
break," McEwen said. "The spacecraft doesn't take Thanksgiving or Christmas
off." 

Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at
http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena,
for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space
Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. The High
Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of
Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., built the
HiRISE instrument. 

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Science Contact Information
 Alfred S. McEwen, UA, principal investigator for HiRISE
 520-621-4573 mcewen at lpl.arizona.edu

Related Web sites
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro
------------------------------------------------------
Images and Captions:

    €     Russell Crater
  http://uanews.org/silk/request/russellcrater.jpg

Hundreds of enigmatic small troughs are seen to carve into the slopes of
these dark sand dunes lying within Russell Crater on Mars. These features
were previously identified as gullies in images from the Mars Orbiter Camera
on Mars Global Surveyor, but the higher resolution HiRISE image brings out
many new details and mysteries. The troughs extend from near the top of the
dunes to their bases, indicating that some fluid material carved into the
sand. The troughs commonly begin as smaller tributaries joined together,
suggesting several sources of fluid. Distinct dark spots are located near
where the troughs seem to originate. Several troughs appear to begin at
alcoves. Several of these troughs have sinuous middle reaches whereas others
are straighter. Further down slope, some trough edges appear elevated above
the surrounding terrain, particularly in the lower reaches. The troughs seem
to terminate abruptly, with no deposition of material, unlike at the bases
of some other gullies on Mars that are not on dunes. One hypothesis for the
origin of these troughs, which has been previously been proposed by the MOC
team, is that CO2 (or maybe H2O) frost is deposited on the dunes in shadows
or at night. Some frost may also be incorporated into the internal parts of
the dunes due to natural avalanching. When the frost is eventually heated by
sunlight, rapid sublimation triggers an avalanche of fluidized displaced
sand, forming a gully. HiRISE will continue to target small trough features
such as these and may return to search for any changes over time. (Photo:
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

    €      Delta in Eberswalde Crater
http://uanews.org/silk/request/eberswaldedelta.jpg

This HiRISE image covers a portion of a delta that partially fills
Eberswalde crater in Margaritifer Sinus. The delta was first recognized and
mapped using MOC images that revealed various features whose presence
required sustained flow and deposition into a lake that once occupied the
crater. The HiRISE image resolves meter-scale features that record the
migration of channels and delta distributaries as the delta grew over time.
Differences in grain-size of sediments within the environments on the delta
enable differential erosion of the deposits. As a result, coarser channel
deposits are slightly more resistant and stand in relief relative to
finer-grained over-bank and more easily eroded distal delta deposits. Close
examination of the relict channel deposits confirms the presence of some
meter-size blocks that were likely too coarse to have been transported by
water flowing within the channels. These blocks may be formed of the sand
and gravel that more likely moved along the channels that was lithified and
eroded. Numerous meter-scale polygonal structures are common on many
surfaces, but mostly those associated with more quiescent depositional
environments removed from the channels. The polygons could be the result of
deposition of fine-grained sediments that were either exposed and desiccated
(dried out), rich in clays that shrunk when the water was removed, turned
into rock and then fractured and eroded, or some combination of these
processes. (Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

    €      Mars Exploration Rover Landing Site at Meridiani Planum
http://uanews.org/silk/request/endurance.jpg

Area a  http://uanews.org/silk/request/areaa.jpg
Area b  http://uanews.org/silk/request/areab.jpg
Area c   http://uanews.org/silk/request/areac.jpg

 This HiRISE image shows the landing site of the Mars Exploration Rover
Opportunity. The prominent impact crater on the right-hand side of the image
is ³Endurance crater² where Opportunity spent about ten months of its now
nearly three-year mission. (Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
 The bright irregularly-shaped feature in area ³a² of the image is
Opportunity¹s parachute, now lying on the martian surface. Near the
parachute is the cone-shaped ³backshell² that helped protect Opportunity¹s
lander during its seven-month journey to Mars. Dark surface material may
have been disturbed when the backshell touched down, exposing the
lighter-toned materials seen next to the backshell. (Photo:
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
 Area ³B² of the image shows the impact point and the broken remnants of
Opportunity¹s heat shield. The heat shield protected the vehicle during its
fiery descent through the martian atmosphere, and then was released from the
spacecraft during the final stages of the descent, breaking into two pieces
when it hit the martian surface. Also visible is the small crater formed at
the heat shield¹s impact point. Opportunity visited the heat shield during
its drive southward from Endurance crater. (Photo: NASA/JPL/University of
Arizona)
 Area ³C² of the image shows ³Eagle crater², the small martian impact crater
where Opportunity¹s airbag-cushioned lander came to rest. The lander is
still clearly visible on the floor of the crater. Opportunity spent about 60
martian days exploring rock outcrops and soils in Eagle crater before
setting off to explore more of Meridiani Planum. (Photo: NASA/JPL/University
of Arizona)




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