YOU point camera and take photograph of planet Mars

William Atkins
Thursday, 21 January 2010 18:14

Science - Space

The NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) contains a camera called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). And, NASA has opened up its picture-taking ability to the public. Ready. Aim. Say "Cheese"!


According to the January 20, 2010 NASA mission news article Public Invited To Pick Pixels on Mars, “Students, researchers and others can view Mars maps using a new online tool, called "HiWish," to see where images have been taken, check which targets have already been suggested and make new suggestions.”

Since 2006, the HiRISE camera has taken nearly 13,000 photographs of the surface of the planet Mars, although only about 1% of the surface has yet to be imaged.

Now, NASA wants you to get involved!

Alfred McEwen, who is the principal investigator for HiRISE, states, "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.” [NASA]

To select the area on Mars that you would like HiRISE to take a photograph of, go to the University of Arizona website for HiRISE: Public Suggestion Page.

The website states, “You can help HiRISE decide what places on Mars we'll photograph next! To suggest a new target, first create an account using this web site. When you have completed registration, login and begin creating new suggestions. You can also browse the targets already in our database, including those for past HiRISE images.”

Page two makes some suggetions on how to best make your selections for photographs of Mars.