Location of Source Universe Today MARCI Dust Front Image Options

[MouseOnMars]

Happy New Year

After reading this Universe Today story it got me back into using ISIS and the PDS. ISIS3 looks very nice with it's new GUI . But I cannot find the source image for the "Dust Front" image published in the article. I have pinpointed it's location to Noctis Labyrinthus but the published image has no source image number. I wonder if this is because it has not been released into the PDS ?

[cartrite]

That is a MARCI image. You can plug in the coords at the PDS Atlas and search there.
http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/search/sea...tml#QuickSearch
Look at the Geometry tab and use the Center Lat / Long coordinates to narrow the search.

If you know the volume ID and filename you can download from here.
http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/Admin/resources/cd_mro.html
ISIS3 can do limited processing of MARCI images.
Unfortunately, I think these images were taken in December 2008 and have not been released yet. In Volume 181, the latest orbit numbers are around 8600. The HiRise images taken in September 2008 have orbit numbers in the 10000 range.
cartrite

[MouseOnMars]

Hello

ISIS3 can do limited processing of MARCI images.

I have managed to put up a viewable version using qview. So, do the MARCI team have their own in house processing tools ?

Unfortunately, I think these images were taken in December 2008 and have not been released yet. In Volume 181, the latest orbit numbers are around 8600. The HiRise images taken in September 2008 have orbit numbers in the 10000 range.
cartrite

I thought so. A few months until a new PDS release then ?

[mcaplinger]

So, do the MARCI team have their own in house processing tools ?

Yes. I doubt if ISIS can process a pushframe image in an efficient manner, especially one with framelets as small as MARCI's.

[cartrite]

ISIS3 doesn't have a MARCI camera model. But ISIS can still do a lot with these images. You would have to create accurate map files for the images you use so they can be reprojected. There are also various filters and cropping techniques that could be used too. It probably wouldn't be that hard to create global mosaics.

Most of the image processing is done by Malin Space Science Systems. Here is a couple of links to their site.
http://www.msss.com/mro/marci/description.html
http://www.msss.com/mro/marci/

The raw data files will probably be released some time this summer. Here is a link to a page I follow that keeps me updated to new releases.
http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/current.html

cartrite

[MouseOnMars]

OK. Thanks for that .

I'll carry on my investigations with other data in the meantime.

I see by searching that some are using ISIS to output unsigned 16bit data from HiRise in a RAW format. CTX looks like it is 8 bit. I'm not sure about MARCI yet. Is it worth outputting as RAW like I do with my digital camera ? Or is all the data developed on the MRO probe (like my digital camera does when it's making jpegs) meaning that "raw" images are not really raw - straight from the CCD ?

[cartrite]

All data the MRO sends to earth is 8 bit. Programs in ISIS or other programs decompress that data.
Raw means it is not calibrated and it is in 8 bit format and needs to be processed with some software package like ISIS. The programs marci2isis and marciflip will get you started. These raw images are nothing like what is produced by a digital camera.
cartrite

[MouseOnMars]

OK. I mentioned the digital camera more as an analogy as the instruments on MRO are not really photographic instruments per se. But there is still a CCD --> Data --> Final product pipeline.

What I'm not clear about is if MARCI or HiRise instruments do any processing on the MRO probe apart from compression. Is all the processing done on Earth using ISIS or whatever ?

[mcaplinger]

What I'm not clear about is if MARCI or HiRise instruments do any processing on the MRO probe apart from compression.

MARCI and CTX do "companding" from the sampled 12-bit ADC values to 8 bits, typically using a square-root table inside the instrument. I think HiRISE does the same thing from its 14-bit samples. You could call this compression, I guess, though it is intended to be effectively lossless.

[MouseOnMars]

Right, yes. Thanks for that. I think I'm clear now .