page_title: HiRISE
section_title: Images naming conventions
hierarchical_section_title: HiRISE / Images naming conventions
caption_attribution_description: English: Gullies rake across the raw landscape of Mars in an image released this week by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera. Some four billion years ago, a comet or asteroid splashed onto the southern highlands of Mars, creating the Argyre Impact Basin just south of the gullies. After the impact, water or lava flow into the basin may have carved these gullies, which are more than 3.6 miles (6 kilometers) long.
context_page_description: High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006. The 65 kg, US$40 million instrument 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 m aperture reflecting telescope, the largest so far of any deep space mission, which allows it to take pictures of Mars with resolutions of 0.3 m/pixel, resolving objects below a meter across.
  HiRISE has imaged Mars exploration rovers on the surface, including the Opportunity rover and the ongoing Curiosity mission.
context_section_description: HiRISE images are available to the public, so it can be useful to know how they are named. This is an excerpt from the official documentation:
  Name:
  ppp_oooooo_tttt_ffff_c.IMG
  ppp = Mission Phase:
  INT = Integration and Testing
  CAL = Calibration Observations
  ATL = ATLO Observations
  KSC = Kennedy Space Center Observations
  SVT = Sequence Verification Test
  LAU = Launch
  CRU = Cruise Observations
  APR = Mars Approach Observations
  AEB = Aerobraking Phase
  TRA = Transition Phase
  PSP = Primary Science Orbit (nov 2006-nov 2008)
  REL = Relay phase
  E01 = 1st Extended Mission Phase if needed
  Exx = Additional extended Missions if needed
  oooooo = MRO orbit number
  tttt = Target code
  ffff Filter/CCD designation:
  RED0-RED9 - Red filter CCDs
  IR10-IR11 – Near-Infrared filter CCDs
  BG12-BG13 – Blue-Green filter CCDs
  c = Channel number of CCD (0 or 1)
  The target code refers to the latitudinal
  position of the center of the planned
  observation relative to the start of orbit.
  The start of orbit is located at the equator
  on the descending side (night side) of the
  orbit. A target code of 0000 refers to the
  start of orbit. The target code increases in
  value along the orbit track ranging from 0000
  to 3595. This convention allows the file name
  ordering to be time sequential. The first
  three digits refers to the number of whole
  degrees from the start of orbit, the fourth
  digit refers to the fractional degrees rounded
  to the nearest 0.5 degrees. Values greater
  than 3595 identify observations as off-Mars or
  special observations.
  Examples of target code:
  0000 – planned observation at the equator on descending side of orbit.
  0900 – planned observation at the south pole.
  1800 – planned observation at the equator on the ascending side (day side) of the orbit.
  2700 – planned observation at the north pole.
  Off-Mars and Special Observations Values:
  4000 – Star Observation
  4001 – Phobos Observation
  4002 – Deimos Observation
  4003 – Special Calibration Observation
caption: Gullies in the southern highlands of Mars
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