NASA Craft Totes Ariz. Scientists’ Camera

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – A NASA craft carrying a $40 million camera created by University of Arizona scientists is set to orbit Mars on Friday.

The camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is one of six instruments on the craft designed to examine Mars in unprecedented detail from low orbit. The mission is expected to gather more information than all previous Mars probes combined.

The UA camera is a 145-pound device with a 20-inch primary mirror that will take ultra-sharp photographs of 3.5-mile-wide swaths of the Martian landscape. Rocks and other features as small as 40 inches will be visible to scientists.

The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, or HiRISE, is the most powerful camera ever sent beyond Earth’s orbit.

A team led by Alfred S. McEwen, a professor in the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, will process about 10,000 large, high-resolution images sent from HiRISE during the 25-month mission. The first images should arrive in Tucson about 18 hours after the camera is turned on March 18.

The orbiter is expected to reach Mars Friday afternoon after a 7-month flight from earth.

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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com