A new role for me as I join the HiRISE camera team for an operations/image selection role for the first time. HiRISE produces up to 30 cm/pixel images (anotherwords we can identify metre-scale objects) and take stereo images of the surface of Mars.
HiRISE is critical in the choice of landing sites including Gale Crater for MSL. The orbiter that carries HiRISE (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) also acts a relay for Curiosity so there has to be a balance between the different requirements, neither MSL nor HiRISE can get all the data capability they might want all the time.
Here is an image taken by HiRISE with our current location at sol 649 as we concentrate on driving towards the Murray Buttes path across the dunes to Mt. Sharp. I think it shows how remote and challenging a rover mission to Mars is, as each daily drive shown on the image is about 30-100 m. Inside Curiosity we continue to analyse the Kimberley samples with CheMin and SAM.
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