New MRO Images of Mars Released

From the beginning of April through early August of 2009, the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) recorded a number of about 1,500 new photographs of the Martian surface. The amazing snapshots, taken with a resolution as small as 25 centimeters per pixel, reveal even more gullies, small canyons, dunes, craters, and a host of other features on the Red Planet.

Gullies are especially interesting, because scientists recently discovered actively changing examples of them at specific locations. Images separated by several years showed changes in the appearance of some of these gullies. Today, planetary scientists are using the HiRISE camera to examine gullies such as the ones in these images for changes that might provide a clue about whether liquid water occurs on the surface of Mars.

Martian gullies carved into hill slopes and the walls of impact craters were discovered several years ago. Scientists are excited to study these features because, on Earth, they usually form through the action of liquid water – long thought to be absent on the Martian surface. Whether liquid water carves gullies under today's cold and dry conditions on Mars is a major question that planetary scientists are trying to answer.

Experts from the University of Arizona in Tucson, who manage the HiRISE instrument for NASA, constantly release what they consider to be the most iconic images captured by the Martian orbiter. Every week, they post a couple of images on their website, but, occasionally, they also upload larger batches, at exquisite resolutions. Each of the new photographs covers a strip of Martian ground about six kilometers (3.7 miles) wide, and shows details as little as one meter across.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has thus far provided ample, new knowledge about the surface of the Red Planet, more than any of the other missions to Mars combined. This also includes the twin rovers, which have been exploring the surface of our neighbor for the better part of the last five years. This year, the orbiter also proved that it could function as a relay, using the stuck rover Spirit as an origin point. In addition to collecting evidence of Martian weather, atmosphere and soil formation, the MRO also constantly photographs Spirit, which helps JPL experts work out a way of extracting it from Troy.

MRO is managed by JPL, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in Washington DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, in Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and is also the main builder of the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado.