HiRISE | A Possible Landing Site for NASA's InSight Mission (ESP_031249

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

A Possible Landing Site for NASA's InSight Mission
ESP_031249_1785 Science Theme: Future Exploration/Landing Sites

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One of the most difficult aspects of space exploration is finding a safe but scientifically compelling place to land. With HiRISE and its powerful resolution, other mission teams can request HiRISE images of potential future landing sites on Mars.

That's the case with this observation for NASA's upcoming InSight mission, which needs to find a safe, flat landing area that will also meet their mission goals. This area is considered a finalist landing ellipse for the mission, which will delve deep beneath the surface of Mars to search for insight into the processes of terrestrial planet formation.

HiRISE has become an invaluable tool for other Mars missions. We can take hundreds of images of potential landing spots for other science missions, like we did for the successful Phoenix Lander and the rover Curiosity, currently exploring Gale Crater.

Written by: HIRISE Science Team (audio by Tre Gibbs) (15 May 2013)

Acquisition date
27 March 2013

Local Mars time
14:26

Latitude (centered)
-1.284°

Longitude (East)
142.038°

Spacecraft altitude
270.3 km (168.0 miles)

Original image scale range
27.0 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~81 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
0.0°

Phase angle
41.9°

Solar incidence angle
42°, with the Sun about 48° above the horizon

Solar longitude
289.9°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 97°
Sub-solar azimuth: 330.4°

JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (552MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (891MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected (349MB)
non-map           (324MB)

IRB color
map projected (412MB)
non-map           (839MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (122MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected (216MB)

RGB color
non map           (720MB)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.