Digital Images of Mars - NASA

NASA has just released the first images of Mars from its new camera system. This will provide a platform of what type of images the Mars Reconnaissance Orbitor will provide when its main mission begins in fall.

Three cameras were used in this mission, these are 1. High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, 2. Context Camera and 3. Mars Color Imager. Together they gathered up to 40 minutes of data which was used to merge and form the image.

According to Steve Saunders, Mission's program scientist at NASA Headquarters. He says...

"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,".. "The information learned will be used to prepare for the primary mission next fall." The main purpose of these images is to enable the camera team to develop calibration and image-processing procedures such as the precise corrections needed for color imaging and for high-resolution surface measurements from stereo pairs of images."

In essence this is very interesting stuff from NASA.

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