HiRISE

For the Apple accessory see Twelve South

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The 65 kg (143 lb), $40 million USD instrument was built under the direction of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. It consists of a 0.5 m (19.7 in) aperture reflecting telescope, the largest so far of any deep space mission, which allows it to take pictures of Mars with resolutions of 0.3 m/pixel (about 1 foot), resolving objects below a meter across.

HiRISE has imaged Mars landers on the surface, including the ongoing Curiosity<ref name=HiRISE Operations Center. (2012, September 29). hirise images of msl (curiosity). Retrieved from http://www.uahirise.org/releases/msl-images.php>HiRISE Operations Center - Images of Curiosity rover (September 29, 2002)</ref> and Opportunity rover missions.

History

In the late 1980s, Alan Delamere of Ball Aerospace began planning the kind of high-resolution imaging needed to support sample return and surface exploration of Mars. In early 2001 he teamed up with Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona to propose such a camera for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and NASA formally accepted it November 9, 2001.