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First HiRISE Images From Mars Due Thursday
Tucson AZ (SPX) Mar 21, 2006 The High Resolution Imaging Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled to take its first images of the red planet late Thursday night. University of Arizona scientists, who manage the HiRISE camera, said the powerful instrument will take four images of Mars between 11:41 p.m. and 11:50 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. The camera also will take a second set of images during another orbit, between 11:15 a.m. and 11:22 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, March 25. "We could have our data in hand as early as an hour-and-a-half, or two hours after the observations," said HiRISE manager Eric Eliason of UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. That would mean camera scientists could receive the data signals as early as 1:15 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday and 12:45 p.m. Saturday. HiRISE images taken during two orbits will be the camera's only photos for the next six months, because the camera will be turned off while the spacecraft continues its aerobraking maneuvers, intended to reshape its highly elliptical orbit around Mars. The process involves dipping repeatedly into the upper atmosphere to reduce speed and drop into successively more circular orbits. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is expected to provide more science data than all previous Mars missions combined, and HiRISE is the most powerful telescope camera ever sent to another planet. NASA scientists have described its resolving power as the equivalent of watching individual tourists cross the Mall in Washington, D.C., from the top of the Empire State Building in New York City. HiRISE�s first images will be highly experimental, because the team is trying a number of algorithms and systems for the first time, so things could go wrong, said team leader Alfred McEwen. "However, we are sure to learn important lessons about how to operate the spacecraft and HiRISE." Also, the geometries of the early orbits may be less than ideal for the HiRise camera's test-image swath, and atmospheric dust or ice hazes could obscure the surface because Mars is experiencing early fall in its southern hemisphere. The camera's first images will be taken at middle latitudes of the southern hemisphere, when the MRO flies between 1,500 miles and 800 miles (2,500 kilometers and 1,300 kilometers) above the planet. After aerobraking, the camera will fly just outside the planet's atmosphere, at an altitude of 190 miles (about 300 kilometers). Some of the camera's first targets next fall will be of potential landing sites for the Phoenix Mission lander, slated to reach the Martian surface in May 2008. The Phoenix Mission will communicate with Earth using MRO's high-data-rate relay. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links HiRISE UALPL MRO JPL Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
ITT Supports Successful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Insertion
White Plains NY (SPX) Mar 21, 2006ITT Industries Deep Space Network (DSN) Operations and Maintenance team successfully supported the Mars Orbit Insertion for one of NASA's newest exploration missions, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). |
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