On the technical side, we’ve been working with the spacecraft engineers on this sequence for a while now. Any special activity like this requires a lot of hand-built commands, which have to be carefully reviewed and tested before we send them to MRO. We had to slew away from Mars, towards the Earth. Then we moved HiRISE’s focus mechanism a little, so we’d be in better focus to view the Earth & Moon. The spacecraft then slowly rotated so the Earth would pass through our field of view. Then it rewinded (rewound? ) & repeated the same thing, so we could take a second image that would be exposed correctly for the Moon, which is much darker. The focus mechanism was moved back to our perfect Mars focus, and then we resumed imaging Mars normally.

Due to the downlink outage I referred to in the previous post, we’ve had to scramble to protect these data. Many thanks to a certain prophetically-named Targeting Specialist for working so hard to cancel (and un-cancel) other images in order to make sure we get these down safely. After all this work, we really want to see the pictures! It won’t be for a while, though. We have to wait for the data to be downlinked and processed, which could take several days. Since these image are so different from our regular Mars images, our regular smooth pipelines are useless. Instead, everything has to be done by hand by our diligent downlink team. Fingers crossed until then!

UPDATE: This image has finally been released! http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/earthmoon.php The color processing had to be done by hand, and this just wasn’t as high of a priority as getting more Mars images, improving software, and preparing for our big PDS releases.

There are three stages to validation: quick look validation, in-depth validation, and geometric validation. Most of the validation is done by undergraduate students in a variety of departments from the University of Arizona. If they notice something odd, they flag it and notify the full-time operations team, who do a more detailed analysis. Currently there are two students who work solely with validation, and me. I volunteer when their work load becomes heavy (normally I work as a programmer for different software needed at HiROC).

The first stage is to let the staff at HiROC know quickly if there is any problem in commanding, or if there is haze in the field of view. Low resolution “browse” images that have come down in the last 24 hours are examined by someone (usually either myself or RichardLeis) to see if there is anything obviously wrong. If there is suspicion, a flag is raised and then other people will take a look at the images. This quick look helps prevent any commanding issues from continuing, and also helps us avoid taking more pictures in areas with some kind of atmospheric distortions (”haze”). This could include dust storms, clouds, melting ice caps in the polar regions, etc.

The second stage of more in-depth analysis involves a tool called HiVali. This tool allows one to quickly take a look at an image in more detail, and see if there are any kinds of problems with it. It reports statistics of pixels to see if there is saturation or low contrast. It checks to see if there are any gaps in the image, and other kinds of routine image checks. One part of this process, the part that takes the most time, is the visual validation, where a human physically looks at every inch of the picture in high resolution to see if there is anything odd. These are usually things which can be fixed in the calibration processing.

The third stage is also a quick look, which is done after the image has been geometrically projected. If something is found that is strange in this stage, then the geometric processing is re-done to correct the error. If the image is in good condition, then many of the intermediary files are marked for deletion. Note that the EDRs and the final products are always kept, but there are several stages to the pipeline, as readers of this blog will know.

Sometime during this process, science team members also look at the image, to find if there is anything of special interest in the image. If there is, a caption is written, and it is prepared for the next batch of images to be released. If not, the image may be released without a special caption. All images will be released within 6 months of being taken. Once everything is perfected at HiROC, this release time will be reduced greatly, perhaps even to a few weeks. Currently, though, we are still working on the process of getting the images released.

The uplink team is constantly looking where to point the camera next. There is a program which is in beta testing now called HiWeb which allows scientists and other people to input suggestions. The Uplink team reviews the suggestions in the database, assigns a priority to each of these suggestions, and then finds when we can point the camera at the part. They also make sure a certain percentage of the upcoming pictures are assigned to look for a Phoenix landing spot, as this is a high priority item at the moment. They are still learning exactly how to best command the camera, and are constantly sharpening their skills.

The downlink team is making sure operations run smoothly at HiROC. They are verifying that the processing has taken place, make sure that the images have been calibrated correctly, that there are no image processing artifacts on the images we are about to release. If there is any artifacts created from processing the image, the source of the problem is identified and fixed, and then the image is reprocessed. While previously we have sent images to the public that had some small processing artifacts during the post-MOI and Transition imaging, we currently are waiting until the images have been completely validated. The downlink team is also taking a quick look at each image that comes down, and making sure there isn’t something unexpected, for example, haze at Mars, lots of saturated pixels, etc. If any such problems are found, they notify the uplink team, to ensure that we don’t have continuing problems. These problems are very rare, but on occasion happen, due to the changing nature of Mars.

During and after the validation process, the images are reviewed by several of the science team members of HiRISE. Things of special nature are noted, and these images receive captions. The others are slated for a more general release. Due to the large size of the HiRISE images, it is almost impossible to search every square inch of the pictures by any one or even a small group of people. I’m sure many of you have noticed this with just the images which have been released, there are many more which are still being validated which have yet to be released.

The Systems team is responsible for making sure that the HiROC computers are all working in top shape. They are quick to find problems when they arise and fix them so that it does not affect the flow of data here. They are preparing servers for two upcoming services that HiROC will provide, HiWeb, which was mentioned previously, and a JPIP server, which will allow for the effective distribution of JPEG 2000 images.

The software team is writing software that will make people’s lives easier. Some are working with the HiPlan suite of tools, which is used to plan upcoming images, to make it even easier to use for the uplink team. Some are working on HiVali, the validation software, which is used to make it easier to verify that an image is ready to release to the public, quickly finding problems with the image. Some are working on HiView, a program which will allow distribution of images over the JPIP protocol to the general public. Still others are working on getting HiWeb ready for public release.

Let me also talk a bit about a few upcoming products mentioned in this entry. HiView will allow you to download only the parts of a HiRISE image that you find most interesting. It will work great, even for those who have slow internet connections. I personally have tested this with a connection rate of 1kBytes/sec, and it works reasonably well even at that slow speed. It will allow the user to save the parts of the image they find the most interesting to their hard drive for future study (HiView will require a constant internet connection to download the image)

Another upcoming product is HiWeb. HiWeb will allow any user (Yes, that’s you!) to suggest future targets to image with the HiRISE camera. Preference is given to targets of scientific interest. The suggestions are given a priority, and placed in a database to be targeted depending on the orbit of MRO and the allocated bandwidth.

So, that’s what’s happening at HiROC these days. In short, we are all very busy, but very much enjoying our work. I personally can’t remember a time that I’ve had as much fun working as these last few months have been. And surely the best is yet to come!

Since before PSP started, we’ve all been working long hours. We haven’t had much time to blog, but right now I’m just waiting nervously for my commands to be radiated, so I thought I’d share this recipe. For all you faithful blog readers out there (all 2 of you? ), here’s my secret to surviving long workdays and cold nights:

Kite’s Red Planet Soup

• 1 gallon-size jar roasted red peppers in water, pureed
• a bunch of carrots, steamed in a small amount of water until soft, and then pureed
• 4 cups pumpkin puree, frozen, from your uncarved Halloween pumpkin
• a pile of brown rice, cooked
• a few cans of soybeans
• vegetable bouillon — keep adding until it tastes good
• a few shakes of cayenne pepper
• salt

Make a whole bunch in a giant pot, simmer for a while, then freeze in individual portions, and you’ll have a delicious and healthy homemade lunch every day! It’s extra good with bread or some cheese grated on top. Perfect for this chilly winter weather we’re having! (Yes, it really does get cold in Tucson!)

Fortified by my daily dose of red goodness, this afternoon I built the commands for the first four days of images in cycle 3. They will be radiated some time this evening. I’m pretty nervous, but I’ve triple- and quadruple-checked every detail of every observation, so there’s not much more I can do but wait…. I only hope these images are as sexybeautiful as HiKu’s and HiPilot’s!

To tell the truth, some of us are experiencing a little bit of a lull. We’re in conjunction right now — this means that the Sun is directly between Earth and Mars, so we can’t communicate with the spacecraft. (Here’s a link with a few diagrams to illustrate this.)

The HiRISE instrument is turned off, and we’re not taking any images. However, there are other activities going on at HiROC….

We start imaging again on November 8, and a few of us are already planning for that. PSP, the Primary Science Phase, is divided into two-week cycles. The first cycle is rm001, the second rm002, etc. Each cycle has a Targeting Specialist assigned to it (this one isn’t me, or I wouldn’t have time to write this!). The Targeting Specialist works with a member of the science team, the “Co-Investigator of the Pay Period,” (”pay period” because of the two-week cycle) or CIPP. The CIPP helps to choose scientifically important targets, and the Targeting Specialist does the scheduling and commanding. They work together on coordinating with other teams, choosing camera parameters, etc. There are a lot of details that need to be worked out!

We’re also building commands for a few special calibrations that will occur during the first cycle. On November 9th, we’re going to take a series of flat field images for calibration purposes. For these, the spacecraft will yaw (rotate around the normal axis) 90 degrees. Then when we take an image, it will smear across the whole field of view, giving us as close as we can get to a uniformly bright image. Once we average this over a lot of observations, we will divide our images of Mars by this as one of the calibration processing steps.

We will also be participating in a Deimos observation on November 13th. The calibration is actually set up for CRISM, and we’re just riding along, so the viewing conditions are not ideal for HiRISE. So don’t expect a fantastic HiRISE observation of Deimos! Instead, we’re taking this opportunity to measure stray light. Stray light is the extra scattered light that gets into the camera’s optics. We’re pretty confident that not much stray light gets into the excellent optics of the HiRISE camera, but we want to make sure.

Of course, the work never really stops, so we’re all busy with other things, as well — updating procedures and software, training new people, and trying to get ourselves organized and prepared. We want to be ready for the onslaught of images that will start in a few weeks and continue for (at least) the next two years!

NASA story: During Solar Conjunction, Mars Spacecraft Will Be on Autopilot

1. Validate the image data that have arrived since last time I checked. Are the raw image files we receive gap-free and are the file sizes as expected? Did the Uplink team command the HiRISE camera properly? So far, they have a perfect record!
2. Keep checking to see if new data is arriving for processing.
3. Are our automated processes running properly?
4. Is the data being stored correctly and can the team access the images in the appropriate places?
5. Finally! Actually look at the new images. In between “oohs” and “ahhs” check to see that the images look good. Did our automated software handle the data correctly? Do I need to do any manual reprocessing of image data?
6. Report my findings to the team via email.
7. Get up and see what the scientists and other team members are up to.
8. Eat some Cheetos.
9. Repeat as necessary.
10. A million other tasks.
    

By the end of the day I am covered in Cheeto dust (joking) and amazed by some new vista of Mars (seriously).

What is it we find so amazing? I can only speak for myself, but in observation TRA_000823_1720, the boulders lying about casting shadows indicate just how “Hi” resolution the HiRISE camera can go. In the second observation – TRA_000825_2665 – the stack of water ice and dust layers and the patches of water frost make for a distinctive landscape. At this resolution, there is a marked difference between the north polar region on Mars and the pictures I have seen of the Earth’s own polar regions.

To me, this is the great joy of planetary science: seeing new vistas that are at once familiar and unfamiliar, and never, ever routine.

What are we doing?

• Uplink people have planned the images in detail. We know exactly what spots on Mars we’ll be aiming the camera at. That involved a lot of work with our planning tools, using predictions of exactly where the spacecraft will be at any given time in the orbit. We wrote and delivered our command files earlier this week, so there would be time for testing. The commands were actually radiated to the spacecraft this morning, and are on board MRO right now!

• Downlink people are getting everything ready to receive and process the data. Our hardware and software needs to be configured and tested, so that tomorrow when the images start coming down, hopefully everything will go smoothly.

We’re all reviewing the test runs of the imaging as well. There is a testbed we call the “OTB” (Orbiter Test Bed). We’re able to simulate our command sequences on it in order to make sure everything is correct. We even get fake data (usually all zeros) back from it, so that we can make sure the “images” are the right size, etc.

We expect a lot of visitors at HiROC starting tomorrow. A number of our scientific co-investigators will be visiting for a few days, to see the images first-hand and help us prepare public releases. Members of the press also want to join us to capture the excitement of seeing the first images come down (and hopefully we’ll be able to convey that on this blog, too!).

So we’re all very busy, but we’ll try to keep you updated on what’s going on here!