If you live in Tucson, you might be interested to know that we’re looking for a new HiRISE Targeting Specialist (HiTS) here at HiROC!

Our faithful blog readers are probably already familiar with some of what the HiTS do, but for the rest of you, here are some past entries related to different aspects of the job:

• Welcome, Newbies! – Training other new HiTS
• ESP so far – In the extended mission, things are (supposedly!) easier…
• How big are our feet? – Planning software HiTS use, HiPlan
• High data rate and HiTemp – Some of the challenges of planning images
• Looking Back – Special sequence commanding

I’ve found it to be an exciting and rewarding job, but it’s not an easy one. You need to be the type of person who thrives under pressure; can deal with firm deadlines, but is also creative and self-motivated in between deadlines; pays attention to small details, but can also “see the big picture” (so to speak ). You need to be able to communicate with, and translate between, people with diverse backgrounds and experience, from researchers on the science team to NASA engineers. Ideally, you’d have some relevant scientific background (planetary science, astronomy, or geology, for example), be familiar with UNIX and some programming, and most importantly, be excited about exploring Mars!

To view the complete job description, requirements, and apply online, click this link to the University of Arizona job listing. If you have any questions about the job, please leave them in the comments below!

We were pleased to welcome Linda Ronstadt (!!!) to the HiRISE Operations Center last week. We gave her and a few of her friends & family a presentation about the HiRISE mission, and we showed them some of our images in false color, 3-D and on the HiWall. Linda was incredibly nice and enthusiastic, and she had lots of great questions for us. Turns out rock stars love HiRISE! At least, we hope she enjoyed it as much as we did!

Lately I’ve been helping out with the tours that we give of our operations center (HiROC) lobby and some public talks. Depending on the audience, we usually tell them a little bit about the HiRISE camera, its capabilities, and the MRO mission in general. We also talk about what we personally do at the operations center. The full-scale model of the camera and the “HiWall” are really nice exhibits for visitors. The highlight is usually when we show off what HiRISE has accomplished: color images, 3-D anaglyphs (everyone likes wearing those glasses!), and the recent addition of the fly-through movies has been very popular.

My favorite part is when people have questions for us – even when I don’t know the answers. Because, honestly, that’s what science is – we don’t always have the answers, but that’s what makes it exciting! It’s also fun to find out which aspects of the mission inspire other people, and I get a different perspective on what they think is interesting (versus just what I think is interesting!). Some of the questions are really good, too! We were talking with some middle-school students from El Paso, Texas, and their questions were so astute. One girl asked, “Does Mars have plate tectonics?” Another good question was, “How do we know about the interior of Mars?” These are great questions, and HiRISE is helping scientists to answer these and other questions, along with data from many other instruments studying Mars.

In case you were curious about these particular questions, like these kids were, here are some short answers and references for more information:
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Last week, the MRO spacecraft unexpectedly “safed.” This is when it reboots and puts itself into a precautionary mode; in this case it was in response to an unexpected voltage reading (more information in this press release about the safing). The engineers at JPL and Lockheed Martin spent long hours investigating the cause, making sure the spacecraft is healthy and unharmed (which it does appear to be), and cautiously getting things back to normal. I’ll jump right to the happy ending of the story, which is that we are now back to normal, imaging Mars as usual (here’s the press release about resuming routine operations).

What do the people at the HiRISE Operations Center (HiROC) do when the MRO spacecraft safes?
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We didn’t have any crazy April Fool’s Day jokes here at HiROC yesterday, but there were a few fun incidents. One of our post-docs announced he had been offered a tenure-track faculty position (which isn’t that unrealistic, actually!). Despite the lack of any actual job opening, he got a few congratulatory emails before someone spilled the beans.

Our HiPlan developer, the HiCommander, had a little surprise for us in our planning software, like last year. I was forced to click “Authorize” in order to use HiPlan, and now I owe HiRISE $620. Hopefully that’s a tax-deductible business expense.

On another topic, a number of us have signed up for Google’s new Mars expedition. It seems like the next logical career move after MRO’s mission is complete. In fact, we’re scouting potential sites for Virgle City right now. That’s assuming their references to the first “manned journey to Mars” are not to be taken literally, and that women will be considered as potential colonists. (ahem.)

It seems that things are (dare I say?) settling down into a routine here at HiROC. As the cycles progress, we get a little better with each one: software tools are being developed, our procedures are being refined, and we’re becoming more adept and making fewer mistakes (hopefully!). Of course, there are always little interruptions and semi-emergencies that preclude relaxing too much.
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We mention our automated pipelines a lot, so I might as well jump in and provide some more information about them, on top of what might already have been mentioned before. I will start with the first one – HiDog – in a moment, but first, let me introduce Watchdog.

You should know by now the route our data takes: from the HiRISE camera on MRO to storage to spacecraft radiation to the Deep Space Network radio telescopes here on Earth to the ground data system network to JPL in Pasadena, CA to the University of Arizona campus network to our servers in the HiRISE Operations Center. Our Watchdog software, well, watches the JPL servers for new HiRISE raw image data. When it sees a new raw channel file (2 channels per CCD, up to 14 CCDs per observation), Watchdog flags that file as ready to be downloaded by HiDog.

HiDog is the first automated pipeline. It wakes up every few minutes to see if the Watchdog has flagged any new files (basically, it is checking a sources table in our database). If there is nothing new in the sources table, then it goes back to sleep. If there is something new, HiDog wags its tail, rapidly downloads the file, checks to see if there are any gaps in the data, and then tells the next pipeline that a new image channel has arrived in Tucson, ready for further processing. Then, it checks to see if there are any more files ready for downloading, and goes back to sleep if there are not. Sweet dreams, little doggy.

Over and over again, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the Dogs are ready and waiting for the latest HiRISE data from Mars.

Next time…the EDRgen pipeline.

Here’s a few pictures of HiROC people with their first look at the HiRISE pictures.

First look at the pictures!

We are hoping to release these pictures to the general public sometime today, stay tuned!

It is an amazing site at HiROC now. The team members all look like kids at Christmas time, opening that present that they’ve wanted for so very long. There are already amazing things we want to study more, amazing things that we can learn from Mars already. It’s going to be an amazing two year Primary Science Phase! We are all transfixed, studying these incredible pictures!

Several pictures at HiROC of people waiting for the first science orbit image to come back for HiRISE.