Sun Educator Conference

Sun Educator Conference

The sun is the most prominent and vital feature in our solar system. It
is the largest object and contains approximately 98 percent of the total
mass of the solar system. Since their launch in 1977, the twin Voyagers'
primary objective was to explore and study the gas giants. In 1989 both Voyagers
then became a heliospheric observation mission measuring the extent of the sun's
influence. Voyager 1 crossed into a region at the outer edge of our solar system
in 2004, followed by Voyager 2 in 2007. In 1990, NASA launched the Ulysses mission
whose goal was to explore the sun during solar maximum, providing us with a wealth
of data that has led to a much broader understanding of the global structure of the
sun's environment and the heliosphere. In 2004, NASA's Genesis sample return mission
brought back a treasure trove of data collected at the Lagrange 1 point and furthered
our understanding of solar wind and improved upon the data set previously collected by
the Apollo missions.

During this day-long conference, experts from the Voyager, Ulysses, Genesis, STEREO and
Earth-exploring missions will be on hand to discuss the structure and content of the sun;
current study of its composition; solar cycles; the importance of the sun to Earth; and
the inner and outer heliosphere. We will discuss and demonstrate activities that you can
use in your classroom to promote a greater appreciation of the inspirational aspects of
space exploration.

Who: All educators (including museum staff) and students (high school and above) interested
in Earth and space science, and exploration. The conference content is generally non-technical
but does include some scientific and engineering content. The objective of the conference is
to tell the exciting tales of real-life exploration and new discovery in a way that will excite
and inspire students. Students under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a registered adult.

When: All day, Saturday, October 17. Check-in begins at 7:45 a.m. The conference will conclude by 5:00 pm.

Where: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's von Karman Auditorium. JPL is located in the foothills of
the San Gabriel's Mountains, north of the Rose Bowl. For directions please visit
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/about_JPL/maps.cfm.

Pre-registration is required; walk-up registration will not be possible for this conference. Note
that you will need to show a photo ID at JPL's security checkpoint upon arrival.

How: To register for this conference, please send a check postmarked by Monday, October 5, 2009,
for $25 payable to:

"Jet Propulsion Laboratory" Sun Educator Conference
Attn: Glenda Sherman
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
M/S 600-100
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109

Please register by Monday, October 5, 2009. The $25.00 registration fee includes continental
breakfast, refreshments at breaks and lunch. For registration questions, please call/contact Andrea Angrum
(andrea.angrum@jpl.nasa.gov) at (818) 354-6775 or Aimee Meyer (aimee.l.meyer@jpl.nasa.gov) at
(818) 354-3245. For updates and information visit the JPL Education Gateway at http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Name________________________________________
Title_________________________________________
Organization/School_________________________________________________
Address_______________________________________ State____ Zip________
Grade(s) Taught/Enrolled_____________________________________________
Subject(s) Taught/Enrolled____________________________________________
Contact info for confirmation & last minute changes:
E-mail: ________________________________
Phone: ________________________________

Please enclose $25 Registration Fee. Check # ____________

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In Search of Dark Asteroids (and Other Sneaky Things)

Feature Sept. 18, 2009



In Search of Dark Asteroids (and Other Sneaky Things)

Ninjas knew how to be stealthy: Be dark. Emit very little light. Move in the shadows
between bright places.

In modern warfare, though, ninjas would be sitting ducks. Their black clothes may be
hard to see at night with the naked eye, but their warm bodies would be clearly visible to
a soldier wearing infrared goggles.

To hunt for the "ninjas" of the cosmos -- dim objects that lurk in the vast dark spaces
between planets and stars -- scientists are building by far the most sensitive set of wide-
angle infrared goggles ever, a space telescope called the Wide-field Infrared Survey
Explorer, or WISE.

WISE will scan the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, creating the most comprehensive
catalog yet of dark and dim objects in the cosmos: vast dust clouds, brown dwarf stars,
asteroids -- even large, nearby asteroids that might pose a threat to Earth.

Surveys of nearby asteroids based on visible-light telescopes could be skewed toward
asteroids with more-reflective surfaces. "If there's a significant population of asteroids
nearby that are very dark, they will have been missed by these previous surveys," says
Edward Wright, principal investigator for the mission and a physicist at UCLA.

The full-sky infrared map produced by WISE will reveal even these darker asteroids,
mapping the locations and sizes of roughly 200,000 asteroids and giving scientists a
clearer idea of how many large and potentially dangerous asteroids are nearby. WISE will
also help answer questions about the formation of stars and the evolution and structure of
galaxies, including our own Milky Way galaxy.

And the discoveries won't likely stop there.

"When you look at the sky with new sensitivity and a new wavelength band, like WISE is
going to do, you're going to find new things that you didn't know were out there,"
Wright says.

Stars emit visible light in part because they're so hot. But cooler objects like asteroids emit
light too, just at longer, infrared wavelengths that are invisible to the unaided eye. In fact,
any object warmer than absolute zero will emit at least some infrared light.

Unfortunately, this fact makes building an infrared telescope rather difficult. Without a
coolant, the telescope itself would glow in infrared light just like as other warm objects
do. It would be like building a normal, visible-light telescope out of Times Square
billboard lights: The telescope would be blinded by its own glow.

To solve this problem, WISE will cool its components to about 15 degrees Celsius above
absolute zero (minus 258 degrees Celsius, or minus 433 degrees Fahrenheit) using a block
of solid hydrogen. Mission scientists chose solid hydrogen over liquid helium, which is
often used in research for cooling materials to near absolute zero, because a smaller
volume of solid hydrogen can do the job. "The cooling power is much higher for
hydrogen than for helium," Wright explains. When launching a telescope into space, being
smaller and lighter saves money.

Previous space telescopes such as the Infrared Astronomical Satellite have mapped the
sky at infrared wavelengths before, but WISE will be hundreds of times more sensitive.
While other missions could only see diffuse sources of infrared light such as large dust
clouds, WISE will be able to see asteroids and other point sources.

After it launches into orbit as early as this December, WISE will spend six months
mapping the sky, during which it will download its data to ground stations four times
each day. Analyzing that data should give scientists some new insights into the cosmos.

For example, one theory posits that most of the stars in the universe were formed in the
press of colliding galaxies. When galaxies collide, interstellar clouds of gas and dust
smash together, compressing the clouds and starting a self-perpetuating cycle of
gravitational collapse. The result is a flurry of star birth. Newborn stars are usually
concealed by the dusty clouds in which they are born. Ordinary light cannot escape, but
infrared light can.

WISE will be able to detect infrared emissions from the most active star-forming regions.
This will help scientists know how rapidly stars are formed during galactic collisions,
which could indicate how many of the universe's stars were formed this way.

WISE will also target dim "failed stars" called brown dwarfs that outnumber ordinary
stars by a wide margin. Mapping brown dwarfs in the Milky Way may reveal much about
the structure and evolution of our own galaxy.

And this could be just the beginning of the discoveries scientists make once WISE puts
the spotlight on stealthy denizens of the dark.

From material at Science@NASA

Media contact:
Whitney Clavin/ Jet Propulsion Laboratory
818-354-4673
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

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Planck Snaps Its First Images of Ancient Cosmic Light

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

News Release: 2009-141 Sept. 17, 2009

Planck Snaps Its First Images of Ancient Cosmic Light

PASADENA, Calif. – The Planck mission has captured its first rough images of the sky,
demonstrating the observatory is working and ready to measure light from the dawn of
time. Planck – a European Space Agency mission with significant NASA participation –
will survey the entire sky to learn more about the history and evolution of our universe.

The space telescope started surveying the sky regularly on Aug. 13 from its vantage point
far from Earth. Planck is in orbit around the second Lagrange point of our Earth-sun
system, a relatively stable spot located 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) away from
Earth.

"We are beginning to observe ancient light that has traveled more than 13 billion years to
reach us," said Charles Lawrence, the NASA project scientist for the mission at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "It's tremendously exciting to see these very
first data from Planck. They show that all systems are working well and give a preview of
the all-sky images to come."

A new image can be seen online at
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck/firstlight20090917.html .

Following launch on May 14, the satellite's subsystems were checked out in parallel with
the cool-down of its instruments' detectors. The detectors are looking for temperature
variations in the cosmic microwave background, which consists of microwaves from the
early universe. The temperature variations are a million times smaller than one degree. To
achieve this precision, Planck's detectors have been cooled to extremely low temperatures,
some of them very close to the lowest temperature theoretically attainable.

Instrument commissioning, optimization and initial calibration were completed by the
second week of August.

During the "first-light" survey, which took place from Aug. 13 to 27, Planck surveyed the
sky continuously. It was carried out to verify the stability of the instruments and the
ability to calibrate them over long periods to the exquisite accuracy needed. The survey
yielded maps of a strip of the sky, one for each of Planck's nine frequencies. Preliminary
analysis indicates that the quality of the data is excellent.

Routine operations will now continue for at least 15 months without a break. In this time,
Planck will be able to gather data for two full independent all-sky maps. To fully exploit
the high sensitivity of Planck, the data will require a great deal of delicate calibrations
and careful analysis. The mission promises to contain a treasure trove of data that will
keep cosmologists and astrophysicists busy for decades to come.

Planck is a European Space Agency mission, with significant participation from NASA.
NASA's Planck Project Office is based at JPL. JPL contributed mission-enabling
technology for both of Planck's science instruments. European, Canadian, U.S. and
NASA Planck scientists will work together to analyze the Planck data. More information
is online at http://www.nasa.gov/planck and http://www.esa.int/planck .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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Back to School With JPL

Back to School with JPL

Looking for ways to grab students' attention and get them interested in
science? Here are some activities we suggest:

Classroom Activities
-Back-to-School Quiz
Get your students (and yourself!) up to speed on space events from over the summer.
-- Take the quiz: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/education/backtoschool-20090908.html

-Whip Up a Mouth-Watering Meteorite Activity
A recent meteorite discovery on Mars and an edible classroom activity provide a scrumptious
way to kick off the new school year with a meteorite activity.
-- Go to lesson: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/education/meteorite-20090817.html

-Fire Image Offers Lesson in Space-Based Observations
What can an instrument in space tell us about the fires that raged through southern California?
-- Read more: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/education/fires-20090904.html

Get Inspired
-My (High School) Summer at JPL
Meet three high school students who interned at JPL this summer.
-- Go to video: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=862

Stay Connected
JPL's Education Office is now on Twitter and Facebook, tweeting and sharing teacher
and student information and resources.
NASAJPL_EDU on Twitter
Receive tweets about teacher resources and classroom activities.
-- http://twitter.com/NASAJPL_Edu
NASAJPL Students on Facebook
Become a fan and learn about student opportunities.
-- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pasadena-CA/NASAJPL-Students/240887050396?ref=mf

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Asteroid Juno Grabs the Spotlight

Feature September 16, 2009

Asteroid Juno Grabs the Spotlight

Toward the end of September, the sun will turn a spotlight on the asteroid Juno,
giving that bulky lump of rock a rare featured cameo in the night sky. Those who
get out to a dark, unpolluted sky will be able to spot the asteroid's silvery glint near
the planet Uranus with a pair of binoculars.

"It can usually be seen by a good amateur telescope, but the guy on the street
doesn't usually get a chance to observe it," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's
Near Earth Object Program Office at JPL. "This is going to be as bright as it gets
until 2018."

Juno, one of the first asteroids discovered, is thought to be the parent of many of
the meteorites that rain on Earth. The asteroid is composed mostly of hardy silicate
rock, which is tough enough that fragments broken off by collisions can often
survive a trip through Earth's atmosphere.

Though pockmarked by bang-ups with other asteroids, Juno is large; in fact, it is
the tenth largest asteroid. It measures about 234 kilometers (145 miles) in
diameter, or about one-fifteenth the diameter of the moon.

The asteroid, which orbits the sun on a track between Mars and Jupiter, will be at
its brightest on Sept. 21, when it is zooming around the sun at about 22 kilometers
per second (49,000 miles per hour). At that time, its apparent magnitude will be
7.6, which is about two-and- a-half times brighter than normal. The extra
brightness will come from its position in a direct line with the sun and its proximity
to Earth. (The asteroid will still be about 180 million kilometers [112 million miles]
away, so there is no danger it will fall towards Earth.)

Skywatchers with telescopes can probably see Juno from now until the end of the
year, but it is most visible to binoculars in late September. On or before Sept. 21,
look for Juno near midnight a few degrees east of the brighter glow of Uranus and
in the constellation Pisces. It will look like a gray dot in the sky, and each night at
the end of September, it will appear slightly more southwest of its location the
night before. By Sept. 25, it will be closer to the constellation Aquarius and best
seen before midnight.

For more information: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ .

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Spacecraft Talk Continued During JPL Wildfire Threat

Feature
September 09, 2009

Spacecraft Talk Continued During JPL Wildfire Threat

As the flames of the raging brush fire dubbed the Station Fire
threatened the northern edge of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
on Saturday, Aug. 29, the managers of NASA's Deep Space Network
prepared for the worst.

The Deep Space Operations Center at JPL is the nerve center for the
Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that
send and receive information to interplanetary spacecraft. Staffed
24/7, 365 days a year, the JPL hub is constantly active connecting
three major antenna sites, numerous mission operation centers run
by NASA and an international group of space agencies, and more
than 30 spacecraft flying throughout our solar system.

"We were more like the nervous center that weekend than the
nerve center," said Wayne Sible of JPL, the network's deputy
program manager for Deep Space Network development, operations
and services.

The Deep Space Network operations managers knew that, fire or no
fire, time was critical for sending software programs to and
downloading diagnostic information from several spacecraft,
including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which had an
unexpected computer reboot the day the fire started on Aug. 26,
and the Dawn spacecraft, on its way to the asteroid belt.

The network's antennas that send and receive information to
spacecraft, located at Goldstone, in California's Mojave Desert; near
Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia, were never in danger.
But Sible and Jim Hodder, the network's operations manager, got
word on Friday, Aug. 28, that the Station fire, which started in the
San Gabriel Mountains above the Laboratory, was burning towards
JPL. Emergency managers and senior JPL administrators called for JPL
to be closed, except for essential personnel, on Friday evening.

A flurry of phone calls followed -- to the Deep Space Network team,
the mission operation centers and ITT Systems Division, the
contractor that provides the operators for the operations center at
JPL.

On a phone call with Hodder, the team decided to move network
operators to a facility in Monrovia, Calif., where other support work
is normally conducted for the Deep Space Network. The Monrovia
building – about 15 miles from JPL -- offered basic access to the
critical systems, though the operators would not be able to use
personalized computer scripts or notes that facilitate their work.

It seemed practical, since activating the emergency control center at
the Goldstone complex in California's Mojave Desert would be more
disruptive and require some suspension of communications while
they moved staff 150 miles to that location.

Two of the five Deep Space Network operators on weekend duty
were sent to Monrovia, but three volunteered to stay at the control
center at JPL, to ensure systems continued to operate normally, to
keep connections open with the flight projects, and to maintain the
flow of engineering and science data to flight projects and scientists
around the globe.

The three who stayed at JPL – along with about 40 other mission-
critical personnel at any given time – were told not to spend much
time outside. Hodder called frequently to check on the health of the
crew and to obtain status reports on the network.

On Saturday afternoon, Sible and Hodder were ready to pull out
those remaining three operators and put further communications
with the network on hold if the fire reached the Mesa, a flat helipad
and testing site at the northern edge of JPL.

That afternoon, the fire burned to within an eighth of a mile of the
northern border of the lab. Emergency managers told staff to be
ready to evacuate in 30 minutes.

Thankfully, with fire department handcrews cutting firebreaks,
helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping water and flame
retardant, and the wind shifting, the danger passed on Saturday
night. An unpleasant haze of smoke settled on the lab, but the air
had cleared enough for the network operators in Monrovia to
return to JPL Monday evening. The rest of JPL opened as usual on
Tuesday morning at 6 a.m.

In the end, the Deep Space Network was able to complete its 182
scheduled uploading and downloading sessions with spacecraft over
the weekend without interruption.

"It went very well," Sible said. "Nobody saw any hiccups
whatsoever."

More information on the Deep Space Network is online at
http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/ .

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Saturn Moon Could Power 150 Billion Labor Day Barbecues

Feature September 4, 2009

Saturn Moon Could Power 150 Billion Labor Day Barbecues

Since its discovery by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens in 1655, Saturn's most massive
moon, Titan, has been known as a place of mystery and intrigue. The large, cloud-enshrouded
moon is such a scientific enigma that for the past five years, it has been targeted by NASAs
Cassini spacecraft with more than 60 probing flybys. One of its latest findings could be a
valuable asset to future generations of space explorers hunting for materials to whip up a Labor
Day barbecue.

"Titan's atmosphere is extremely rich in an assortment of hydrocarbon chemicals, including
propane, which we use to fill our barbecue tanks," said Cassini scientist Conor Nixon of the
University of Maryland, College Park. "Titan's atmospheric inventory would fuel about 150
billion barbecue cookouts, enough for several thousand years of Labor Days."

For those who are burger, barbecue or Titan challenged, propane is a three-carbon alkane (a
chemical compound consisting of carbon and hydrogen), that is non-toxic and heavier than air.
With its low boiling point of minus 43.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42 degrees Centigrade),
propane vaporizes as soon as it is released from its pressurized container. Here on Earth, propane
is commonly used as a fuel for forklifts, flamethrowers, residential central heating, portable
stoves, hot air balloons, and – of course – barbecues. On other worlds propane is an untapped
resource.

This gas of many terrestrial uses was first discovered in Titan's atmosphere back in 1980 when
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft flew past the Saturnian system. Over the years, both ground and
space-based instruments have added to the research, but accurately quantifying the amount of
propane on Titan has proved elusive. Then, in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft entered orbit around
Saturn.

Measuring the amount of propane on Titan is important to scientists because the gas is a very
complex molecule, and its signature in the infrared spectrum is close to those of several molecules
scientists are hoping to discover in Titan's atmosphere.

"It was not so much that measuring propane was our endgame, but it helps enormously in our
hunt for other complex molecules," said Nixon. "These include pyrimidines that are potential
building blocks for biological molecules, such as the nuceleobases of our DNA." If we can detect
them on Titan, that would be very significant."

Propane on Titan was measured using data from Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer
instrument. During multiple flybys of the moon between June 2004 and June 2008, the
instrument measured infrared light from the edge of Titan's atmosphere. After a detailed analysis
of the gas's characteristic 'emission bands' or signature, using computer predictions backed by
the latest laboratory research into its infrared spectrum, the Composite Infrared Spectrometer
team came up with an estimate of the amount of propane in Titan's atmosphere So exactly how
much propane does it take to fire 150 billion cookouts?

"We estimate there are nearly 700 million barrels of propane on Titan, said Nixon. "That is
enough to fill six-billion 20-pound tanks of liquefied propane gas. It sounds like a huge amount,
but that would satisfy total U.S. consumption of propane for only 18 months."

Which still leaves, with regards to Saturn's biggest moon, one Labor Day staple still to be
determined. How many hamburgers could future generations of outer-planet explorers grill using
Titan's atmospheric propane?

"A dozen at a time, that's two trillion hamburgers," said Cassini's Nixon, "assuming you stop at
medium-well."

Nixon is the lead author on a paper about propane on Titan to be published in an upcoming issue
of Planetary and Space Science.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.
JPL manages the mission for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

More information about the Cassini mission is available at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini or
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

Doing the math: How do we get from "150 billion barbeque cookouts" to "two trillion" burgers?

You can fit 700 million barrels of propane into about six billion 20-pound tanks of liquefied
propane gas (LPG). As most Labor Day cookouts will probably occur on this planet, we will use
Earth as our barbecue laboratory. On Earth, a full tank of LPG burns for about nine hours –
enough time to turn out 25 to 30 meals. That brings us to about 150 to 180 billion meals. If you
average 12 medium-well patties per meal, then we're talking about 2 trillion burgers. When it
comes to figuring out how many hot dogs could be cooked, you're on your own.

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Preventive Care Continues; Science on Hold

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

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Sept. 4, 2009
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER MISSION STATUS REPORT

Preventive Care Continues; Science on Hold

PASADENA, Calif. -- During analysis of four safe-mode events this year, engineers for
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project have identified a vulnerability to the effects of
subsequent events. They are currently developing added protection to eliminate this
vulnerability while they continue analysis of the string of incidents this year in which the
spacecraft has spontaneously rebooted its computer or switched to a backup computer.

The team is keeping the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in a precautionary "safe" mode, with
healthy power, temperatures and communications, while continuing analysis and precautions
subsequent to the latest rebooting, on Aug. 26. Science observations will likely not resume for
several weeks while this preventive care is the mission's priority.

The analysis identified one possible but unlikely scenario jeopardizing the spacecraft. This
scenario would require two computer resets, each worse than any so far, occurring within
several minutes of each other in a certain pattern.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, at Mars since 2006, has met the mission's science goals and
returned more data than all other Mars missions combined. It completed its primary science
phase of operations in November 2008 but remains an important contributor to science and to
future landed missions. Continuing science observations are planned when the spacecraft is
brought out of its current precautionary mode.

-end-

2009-138

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NASA Extends the Opportunity for High School Students to Apply for INSPIRE Project

NASA Extends the Opportunity for High School Students to Apply for INSPIRE Project

NASA's Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research Experience, known as INSPIRE, is extending the application
process for high school students to apply from August 27 through September 10. NASA will make selections by the end of September.

The selectees will participate in an online learning community, OLC, in which students and parents have the opportunity to interact with their
peers and NASA engineers and scientists. It also provides appropriate grade level educational activities, discussion boards and chat rooms for
participants and their families to gain exposure to the many career opportunities at NASA.

Students selected for the OLC will have the option to compete for experiences, including paid internships, during the summer of 2010 at NASA
facilities and participating universities throughout the nation. The summer experience provides students a hands-on opportunity to investigate
education and careers in those disciplines.

For information about the project, including details about how to apply, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education/INSPIRE

Please note that this is likely to be the last opportunity to qualify to apply for summer 2010 internships under the INSPIRE project.

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Thousands of New Images Show Mars in High Resolution

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

Lori Stiles 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
lstiles@u.arizona.edu

Image advisory: 2009-136 Sept. 2, 2009

Thousands of New Images Show Mars in High Resolution

PASADENA, Calif. -- Thousands of newly released images from more than 1,500
telescopic observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show a wide range of
gullies, dunes, craters, geological layering and other features on the Red Planet.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the orbiter
recorded these images from the month of April through early August of this year. The
camera team at the University of Arizona, Tucson, releases several featured images each
week and periodically releases much larger sets of new images, such as the batch posted
today.

The new images are available at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/releases/sept_09.php .

Each full image from HiRISE covers a strip of Martian ground 6 kilometers (3.7 miles)
wide, about two to four times that long, showing details as small as 1 meter, or yard,
across.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been studying Mars with an advanced set of
instruments since 2006. It has returned more data about the planet than all other past and
current missions to Mars combined. For more information about the mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the
California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High
Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson,
and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.

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