Megan's Blog

First pictures from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

The first images are back from NASA's latest mission to Mars. The picture on the left shows just a small part of a much larger image taken at full resolution with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) which is currently aerobraking into Mars orbit.

This image was taken today at 8:36 p.m. PST during tests of all the cameras on board. It was taken from a height of about 2,489 kilometers (1,547 miles) above the surface of the planet, and the resolution is about 2.5 metres per pixel. The full press release (with more images) can be found on the MRO website.

What is incredible is that this is still about nine times the height planned for the orbiter's primary science mission which is planned to start later this year. Imagine what full resolution images from the final orbit are going to look like... I can't wait.