ESP_013948_1410, the kind of data we can't wait to get more of!

We are now returning to our normal mode of operations after several long months of being in safe mode. The anomaly on August 26th was the last in a series of computer glitches on board the MRO spacecraft that caused a reboot. The engineering teams have been working incredibly hard to get the anomaly figured out and prevent a possible side-effect from causing really serious problems. While they may not understand the original problem, and there is a chance it may happen again, they’re confident that at least it will not threaten the mission, so they’ve given us the go-ahead to resume normal operations.

Safe mode is a way of running the spacecraft where all of the science instruments are turned off and quiet. We still receive engineering telemetry so we can monitor temperatures and voltages. There are also “survival” heaters that prevent HiRISE from getting too cold in this mode.

During this time, the uplink operations staff has gotten a little restless. (more…)

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve been posting a lot, so I thought I’d just give you guys some kind of an idea as to what we’re doing these days.

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. (more…)

Here we are over two weeks into PSP, and we haven’t even finished releasing our TRA images!

Actually, today we got 31 TRA images out the door, just about completing that set. In addition, the previous 32 grayscale images have been reprocessed with our improved geometry—no more jagged edges on the reprojected “Red Mosaics”.

Furthermore, the full-res images are now available as lossless JPEG-2000 (JP2) files. At HiROC we are using the ExpressView application from a company called LizardTech… a subsidiary of some Japanese company (that has no affiliation to us FWIW).

ExpressView is available for Mac and Windows. Their download page describes it only as a browser plug-in, but the installer contains an application as well.

ExpressView provides progressive rendering (though you still have to have the entire file first—we are considering moving to a streaming model using the JPIP protocol but there are even fewer clients available). It should also reduce the amount of memory (RAM) needed to view our largest images.

There are a few options available to Linux users, but nothing we have tried is as fast or as feature-rich. In any case, let us know what works or doesn’t work for you.

All of these images are available at the usual location.

A system for streamlining the process of editing captions, highlighting cut-out areas and pushing out web pages is in the works. We will get caught up.

In the meantime, look for the first set of PSP releases by this time next week.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving.