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Posted by baalke on September 25, 2006, 6:31 pm
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HiRISE CAMERA WILL TAKE FIRST CLOSE-UP PICTURES OF MARS ON SEPT. 29
>From Lori Stiles, University Communications, 520-626-4402
- Monday, September 25, 2006
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MEDIA NOTE: Reporters are welcome to join the HiRISE team in UA's
Sonett
Space Sciences Building when the first HiRISE image is received at
HiROC at
approximately 2:30 p.m. MST (Pacific) time. Please make arrangements
with
Lori Stiles, University Communications, 520-626-4402 or 520-360-0574
(cell).
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Contact information at end of release
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The most powerful camera ever to orbit Mars will get its first close
look at
the Red Planet on Friday.
The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera flying
aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will relay its first
low-altitude images to scientists at The University of Arizona
beginning
Friday afternoon, Sept. 29.
"It's exciting because it's the first time we'll see Mars while the
spacecraft is orbiting at about 300 kilometers (roughly 190 miles)
above the
planet's surface," HiRISE principal investigator and UA Professor
Alfred S.
McEwen said.
The HiRISE camera is the most powerful telescopic camera ever sent to
another planet. The camera took its first impressive test images of
Mars
when it was as far as 2,500 kilometers (roughly 1,600 miles) away from
the
planet last March, just before MRO began "aerobraking." Aerobraking
involved
sending the bus-sized spacecraft through Mars' upper atmosphere 426
times
between early April and Aug. 30. The technique successfully lowered MRO
close to its final science orbit. This maneuver would have required an
extra
600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of fuel if thrusters had been used.
The spacecraft fired six thrusters to reach final science orbit on
Sept.
11. The orbit crosses near Mars' north and south poles at altitudes
ranging
from 250 kilometers (155 miles) to 316 kilometers (196 miles) above the
surface.
The HiRISE team has been working at top speed to prepare for the
low-orbit
images they'll get between Sept. 29 and Oct. 6.
"What makes these next test images exciting for our team is that this
time,
our effective resolution (sharpness) will be 10 times better," said
HiRISE
Operations Center (HiROC) manager Eric Eliason. "We're going to see
some
tremendous detail."
The Sept. 29 - Oct. 6 observing opportunity will be the first time that
MRO
will use the onboard targeting algorithm and procedures that point the
spacecraft at their desired targets. The check-out is designed to test
all
the observing modes so that there is a smooth start to the primary
science
phase in November.
"The north polar cap and the Phoenix Mission landing region are our big
priority targets for the early science phase, and so we've included
them on
our targeting check-out," McEwen said.
The NASA Scout-class Phoenix Mission is an international lander mission
led
by UA's Peter Smith. It is slated for launch in August 2007 for a May
2008
touchdown in Mars' north polar region.
"HiRISE's best chance for photographing candidate Phoenix mission
landing
sites is in October and November because the sun is getting lower as
northern Mars moves into fall," McEwen said. Fogs and hazes will likely
degrade viewing by early 2007, he added.
Other imaging targets include about 40 other locations which sample a
wide
variety of landscapes. The HiRISE team plans to get its first image on
Sept.
29 of Ius Chasma, a complex floor that is part of Valles Marineris, a
giant
canyon system far larger than Arizona's Grand Canyon.
Engineers will turn off the HiRISE camera for a solar conjunction that
starts the second week of October. Solar conjunction is when the sun is
aligned between Earth and Mars. It will obstruct communications with
the
spacecraft for about three weeks.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched August 12, 2005, will
provide
more science data than all previous Mars missions combined. Among its
many
objectives is a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface
of
Mars for a long period of time. Other Mars missions have shown that
water
flowed across the surface in Mars' history. But whether water was ever
around long enough to provide a habitat for life remains a mystery.
The HiRISE team uses ISIS-3 software developed and maintained by the
U.S.G.S.-Flagstaff for processing its images at HiROC. HiROC is located
in
the C. P. Sonett Space Sciences Building, 1541 E. University Blvd, on
the UA
campus.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute
of
Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for
NASA's
Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems
is
the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The
HiRISE
camera was designed, assembled and tested at Ball Aerospace and
Technology
Corp. in Boulder, Co.
----------------------------------------------------
Contact Information
Alfred S. McEwen 520-621-4573 mcewen@lpl.arizona.edu
Eric Eliason 520-626-0764 eeliason@lpl.arizona.edu
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