Mars HiRISE 3-D: The Red Isle & New Amazing Flyovers

HiRISE - High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment: The Red Isle & New Amazing Flyovers.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera is a camera on board the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The 65 kg, $40 million (USD) HiRISE camera 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 meter reflecting telescope, the largest of any deep space mission, which allows it to take pictures with resolutions up to 0.3 m, resolving objects about a meter across, or the size of a beachball.

The HiRISE camera is designed to view surface features of Mars in greater detail than has previously been possible. This allows for the study of the age of Martian features, looking for landing sites for future Mars landers, and in general, seeing the Martian surface in far greater detail than has previously been done from orbit.

By doing so, it is allowing better studies of Martian channels and valleys, volcanic landforms, possible former lakes and oceans, and other surface landforms as they exist on the Martian surface.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HiRISE