[meteorite-list] Public Invited to Pick Pixels on Mars

[Ron Baalke]

Jan. 20, 2010

Dwayne Brown 
Headquarters, Washington      
202-358-1726 
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Guy Webster 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 
818-354-6278 
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov 

Daniel Stolte 
University of Arizona, Tucson 
520-626-4402 
stolte at email.arizona.edu 

RELEASE: 10-014

PUBLIC INVITED TO PICK PIXELS ON MARS - SCIENTISTS TAKING SUGGESTIONS ON 
WHERE TO IMAGE THE RED PLANET USING NASA SATELLITE

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The most powerful camera aboard a NASA spacecraft 
orbiting Mars will soon be taking photo suggestions from the public. 

Since arriving at Mars in 2006, the High Resolution Imaging Science 
Experiment, or HiRISE, camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 
has recorded nearly 13,000 observations of the Red Planet's terrain. 
Each image covers dozens of square miles and reveal details as small 
as a desk. Now, anyone can nominate sites for pictures. 

"The HiRISE team is pleased to give the public this opportunity to 
propose imaging targets and share the excitement of seeing your 
favorite spot on Mars at people-scale resolution," said Alfred 
McEwen, principal investigator for the camera and a researcher at the 
University of Arizona. 

The idea to take suggestions from the public follows through on the 
original concept of the HiRISE instrument, when its planners 
nicknamed it "the people's camera." The team anticipates that more 
people will become interested in exploring the Red Planet while their 
suggestions for imaging targets will increase the camera's already 
bountiful science return. Despite the thousands of pictures already 
taken, less than 1 percent of the Martian surface has been imaged. 

Students, researchers and others can view Mars maps using a new online 
tool to see where images have been taken, check which targets already 
have been suggested and make new suggestions. 

"The process is fairly simple," said Guy McArthur, systems programmer 
on the HiRISE team at the University of Arizona. "With the tool, you 
can place your rectangle on Mars where you'd like." 

McArthur developed the online tool, called "HiWish," with Ross Beyer, 
principal investigator and research scientist at NASA's Ames Research 
Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and the SETI Institute in Mountain 
View, Calif. 

In addition to identifying the location on a map, anyone nominating a 
target will be asked to give the observation a title, explain the 
potential scientific benefit of photographing the site and put the 
suggestion into one of the camera team's 18 science themes. The 
themes include categories such as impact processes, seasonal 
processes and volcanic processes. 

The HiRISE science team will evaluate suggestions and put 
high-priority ones into a queue. Thousands of pending targets from 
scientists and the public will be imaged when the orbiter's track and 
other conditions are right. 

HiRISE is one of six instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. 
Launched in August 2005, the orbiter reached Mars the following year 
to begin a two-year primary science mission. The spacecraft has found 
that Mars has had diverse wet environments at many locations for 
differing durations in the planet's history, and Martian 
climate-change cycles persist into the present era. Mars 
Reconnaissance Orbiter is in an extended science phase and will 
continue to take several thousand images a year. The mission has 
returned more data about Mars than all other spacecraft combined. 

"This opportunity opens up a new path to students and others to 
participate in ongoing exploration of Mars." said the mission's 
project scientist, Rich Zurek of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 
Pasadena, Calif. 

The University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory operates the 
HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. 
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by JPL for NASA's Science 
Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is 
the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. 

To make camera suggestions, visit: 

http://uahirise.org/suggest/ 

For more information about the MRO mission, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/mro 
	
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