Early Results From MRO/HiRISE

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) acquired 8 high-altitude images of Mars at ~2-3 m/pixel scale soon after orbit insertion in March 2006, and is expected to acquire hundreds of observations in Oct-Dec 2006 at ~0.3-1.2 m/pixel in the 3 PM mapping orbit. Each image consists of data from up to 14 CCD detectors and could contain as many as 3 giga-pixels. The 8 early images have been useful for development and testing of processing techniques such as radiometric and geometric corrections and color registration. One science result is the mapping of a variety of streamlined features in bedrock or boulder-rich deposits, such as grooves on the uplands and low streamlined hills in the valleys within the western Charitum Montes (peak rings of the Argyre basin). The grooves have a wide variety of orientations, following the topographic gradients, so they cannot be yardangs produced by strong regional winds. The low streamlined hills have blunt upstream ends and pointed downstream ends, consistent with downstream flow. These morphologies are consistent with glacial processes, previously proposed for this region of Mars by Kargel and Strom [1992, Geology 20, 3]. The absence of large superimposed impact craters indicates geologically-recent (<300 My) modification. The hundreds of higher-resolution images expected to be acquired before the fall AGU conference will cover a broad range of targets, including past landing sites, the candidate landing regions for the Phoenix mission, a few candidate landing sites for MSL, the north polar cap, layered sedimentary deposits, gullies, and a wide variety of other features of interest. We expect the stereo and color observations to be especially interesting.