[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Spacecraft Snaps Photos Chosen by Public (MRO)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:36:36 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201003312336.o2VNabx0013964_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

UPDATED RELEASE (WITH UPDATED URL INFORMATION) :
 
The new Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter/HiRISE images are available via the
NASA Web site at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/images20100331.html

Because of a power outage at the University of Arizona, their Web links
are not available right now.
 
Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov
 
Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
 
Daniel Stolte 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
Stolte at email.arizona.edu
 
News release: 2010-105????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
March 31, 2010
 
NASA Mars Spacecraft Snaps Photos Chosen by Public
 
The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-105&cid=release_2010-105
 
PASADENA, Calif. -- 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 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://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/images20100331.html .
 
"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.
 
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 and makes
its own observations and discoveries.
 
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. 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 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/mro .
 
- end -
Received on Wed 31 Mar 2010 07:36:36 PM PDT