The First Pictures from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has successfully entered orbit two weeks ago and now has started sending very sharp and clear pictures. The pictures were taken from an altitude of 2500 kilometers above an old eroded crater in the southern hemisphere. The pictures reveal channels that may have been formed either by water or dust flows.

According to NASA, the crater image "illustrates processes that may have involved water both on ancient Mars (channels and eroded craters) and much more recently in Mars's history (the younger mantle of debris)."

"We're seeing brand new details - things never seen before," wrote team member Chris Okubo on a blog of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). The pictures have 25 gigabits of information.

"These images provide the first opportunity to test camera settings and the spacecraft's ability to point the camera with Mars filling the instruments' field of view," said Steve Saunders, the mission's program scientist at NASA Headquarters.

The craft will eventually fly at an altitude of 255 to 320 kilometers above the surface reaching an almost circular orbit, which will allow it to take even more detailed pictures. The team expects HiRISE will capture surface details smaller than 1 meter.

Insofar, the satellite has been flying in elongated orbits around Mars since it entered orbit on March 10. Every 35 hours, it has swung about 44,000 kilometers away from the planet then come back within about 425 kilometers of Mars' surface.

Pictures credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ of Arizona