WASHINGTON -- The most powerful camera aboard a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars has returned the first pictures of locations on the Red Planet suggested by the public.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera, aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, is nicknamed, "the people's camera." Through a program called HiWish that began in January, scientists have received approximately 1,000 suggestions. The first eight images of areas the public selected are available online at:
http://uahirise.org/releases/hiwish-captions.php
"NASA's Mars program is a prime example of what we call participatory exploration," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said. "To allow the public to aim a camera at a specific site on a distant world is an invaluable teaching tool that can help educate and inspire our youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math."
Since 2006, HiRISE has obtained approximately 13,000 observations covering dozens of square miles, including areas from a student-suggestion program called NASA Quest. However, only about 1 percent of the Martian surface has been photographed. The public is encouraged to recommend sites for the other 99 percent. To make a suggestion, visit:
http://uahirise.org/hiwish
NASA has provided other opportunities for the public to see and explore Mars. A camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor imaged 1,086 targets suggested through a public-request program from 2003 until 2006. Launched on Nov. 7, 1996, the probe pioneered the use of aerobraking at Mars and mapped the surface. The original one-year mission was extended four times until November 2006.
"Some people get into model railroading or Civil War re-enactments. My thing is exploring Mars," said James Secosky, a retired teacher in Manchester, N.Y., who suggested an area for HiRISE imaging after he examined online images from other Mars-orbiting cameras.
Another camera aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has taken nearly 500 images after receiving approximately 1,400 suggestions through a public-request program initiated in 2009. Odyssey has been orbiting Mars since 2001. It serves as a communications relay for Mars rovers as well as making its own observations and discoveries.
HiRISE is one of six instruments on MRO. 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. The mission is in an extended science phase. The spacecraft will continue to take several thousand images a year. The mission has returned more data about Mars than all other spacecraft to the Red Planet combined.
"What we hope is that people become more interested in science and appreciate this opportunity to explore another world," said Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the camera at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "We appreciate fresh thinking outside the box and look for things we may not have chosen otherwise. It's good to have a lot of eyes on Mars."
The University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages MRO for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.
For more information about the MRO mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro
Boulder Strewn Plain in Northern Utopia Planitia (ESP_016731_2360)
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Common to the northern plains of Mars are rock and boulder strewn landscapes otherwise devoid of major features, short of a few impact craters. This image in the Cydnus Rupes region of northern Utopia Planitia is an excellent example of this sort of terrain.
Boulders up to several meters in size densely coat the landscape. The concentration of these boulders varies at several scales. In some areas only smaller rocks less than a meter across dominate the surface, while a couple hundred meters away may be a somewhat circular "blotch" of larger boulders. Often these blotches of boulders coincide with a faint circular ridge, the remnant of an impact crater now reduced by erosion and infilling to a a mere hint of a crater rim. The abundant boulders excavated by the impact, however, remain scattered over the surface to mark the past event.
Close examination of excavated large rocks and boulders may yield clues to the geologic processes that have shaped the regional landscape over Martian history. However, as a future landing site, these terrains are perilous. Large boulders can damage landing gear and puncture the underside of spacecraft. Rovers would find it extremely difficult to traverse through dense populations of large rocks and boulders.
Written by: Michael Mellon
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Samara Valles is one of the longest ancient valley systems on Mars. This system traverses over 1000 kilometers towards the northwest across the heavily cratered Southern highlands eroding into the gentle slopes of Terra Meridiani. The valley terminates in the Northern lowlands within the Chryse Basin where both Viking Lander 1 and Pathfinder are located.
The full image is centered at 27 degrees South and 344 degrees West and transects a portion of the upper reach of Samara Valles. The valley is several hundred meters wide at this location and the surface is mantled with dust as evidenced by the system of dunes that line the valley floor. The surface is heavily cratered by ancient impacts whose ejecta blankets have long ago been eroded and subsequently buried by dust which mantles the entire region.
Written by: Ginny Gulick
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