Public Invited To Pick Pixels on Mars

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Daniel Stolte 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
stolte@email.arizona.edu

News release: 2010-018 Jan. 20, 2010

Public Invited To Pick Pixels on Mars

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-018&cid=release_2010-018

PASADENA, Calif. -- 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.

The idea to take suggestions from the public follows through on the original concept of the HiRISE
instrument, when its planners nicknamed it "the people's camera." The team anticipates that more
people will become interested in exploring the Red Planet, while their suggestions for imaging targets
will increase the camera's already bountiful science return. Despite the thousands of pictures already
taken, less than 1 percent of the Martian surface has been imaged.

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."

McArthur developed the online tool, called "HiWish," with Ross Beyer, principal investigator and
research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and the SETI Institute
in Mountain View, Calif.

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.

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
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in an extended science phase and will continue to take several
thousand images a year. The mission has returned more data about Mars than all other spacecraft
combined.

"This opportunity opens up a new path to students and others to participate in ongoing exploration of
Mars, said the mission's project scientist, Rich Zurek of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif.

The University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory operates the HiRISE camera, which was
built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by JPL
for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the
prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft.

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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