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Like a tourist checking famous sites off in a guidebook, the UA HiRISE camera orbiting Mars has snapped pictures of another famous Martian site — the landing area of NASA's 1997 Pathfinder mission.

Pictures of the Pathfinder landing site and — also a UA instrument — could give new insights into the surface of the red planet.

Captured Sept. 30 from an orbit of 185 miles, the new images are detailed enough to show the Pathfinder's ramps, science deck and portions of the lander's airbags. The parachute and backshell used during descent are nearby, and portions of the heat shield may also be visible.

The HiRISE has also been scouting for potential landing sites for the UA-led Phoenix mission, which will launch later this year. Scouting landing sites is difficult because scientists have to evaluate the probability of successful landing within a certain area.

"We've taken it slow because of various priorities. The rover landing sites were a priority; scouting the Phoenix landing site was a priority," McEwen said. "They've zeroed in on three landing ellipses and they all look good to me in terms of safety."

The $40 million HiRISE, the most advanced camera ever to leave Earth's atmosphere, has been transmitting high-resolution pictures of Mars back to Earth since it reached its optimal orbit of about 190 miles from the surface last fall. The spacecraft entered Mars' orbit in March, but had to perform several months of difficult aerobraking maneuvers to bring itself into the lower orbit.

The camera has a planned 25-month mission, during which the HiRISE team will process about 10,000 images, each with a 20,000-by-60,000-pixel resolution.

"We're just imaging away here, enjoying exploring Mars," McEwen said.