HiRISE camera aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes 100000 image milestone

by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 17, 2025

After nearly two decades in orbit around Mars, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has logged the 100,000th image of the planet's surface with its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.

The milestone image, acquired on Oct. 7, shows mesas and sand dunes in Syrtis Major, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Jezero Crater, the landing site of NASA's Perseverance rover. Scientists are using the scene to study how wind transports and traps sand in this region, shaping dunes over time.

HiRISE provides high-resolution views of impact craters, dune fields, ice deposits, and potential landing sites, making it a central tool for characterizing Martian surface processes and planning future missions, including eventual human expeditions. Long-term imaging has revealed that Mars' surface is dynamic, with features that shift and evolve over seasonal and yearly timescales.

"HiRISE hasn't just discovered how different the Martian surface is from Earth, it's also shown us how that surface changes over time," said MRO's project scientist, Leslie Tamppari of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "We've seen dune fields marching along with the wind and avalanches careening down steep slopes."

Members of the public can propose targets for HiRISE through the HiWish program, and a high school student recommended the Syrtis Major site that became the 100,000th image. The University of Arizona team that operates HiRISE also generates three-dimensional models from the images, enabling virtual flyover videos that help researchers and the public visualize Mars' terrain.

"Rapid data releases, as well as imaging targets suggested by the broader science community and public, have been a hallmark of HiRISE," said the camera's principal investigator, Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona in Tucson. "One hundred thousand images just like this one have made Mars more familiar and accessible for everyone."

MRO is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of the Mars Exploration Program. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and supports its operations, while the University of Arizona operates HiRISE, which was constructed by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado.