I thought I’d offer a few more words as to what is done with images at HiROC. Validation has been mentioned in the blog, and I’d like to explain a bit more about that. I’ve been involved in writing the primary validation tool, HiVali, and I will be the primary student validator for the next month. (The regular student validators are from out of state, and are going home for the Christmas holidays. I’m from around here, and offered my services to look at pretty pictures from Mars all day;-))

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After a channel of raw data has been downloaded and converted into an *.IMG file, we need one more conversion before cleanup of the image can begin.

The EDR_Stats pipeline creates a *.cub file from the *.IMG file. These cube files are the file type used in ISIS 3.0, an image processing software package provided for planetary science missions by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). This package contains an entire suite of useful tools, many of which are used by our pipelines.

During the creation of a cube, a variety of statistics are gathered. For example, the number of gaps, saturated pixels, calibration pixels, and other pixels are counted. Image mean, standard deviation, and other statistics are also calculated. EDR_Stats takes these results and uploads them to our database. The resulting cube is archived in our storage directory.

The final EDR_Stats pipeline step lets the next pipeline – HiCal – know that an image channel cube file is ready for calibration processing. Let the cleanup of image data begin!

Some of you out there may be asking: what happens to a HiRISE image between the time that it is taken and the time that it is released to the public? Well, I’d like to give a summary here.

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My new temporary daily routine here at HiRISE Operations:

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.