The Night Sky Guy

NASA Taking Requests for Mars Photos

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

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 reveals 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, Tucson.

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

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.

To make camera suggestions, visit http://uahirise.org/suggest/

 More information about the MRO mission is at http://www.nasa.gov/mro

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