This view shows a full-resolution portion of the first image of Mars taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The spacecraft, launched Aug. 12, 2005, began orbiting Mars on March 10, 2006.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

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Described as sharp, detailed and spectacular, the first images of Mars from the UA’s HiRISE camera arrived early Friday to a thrilled scientific team set to examine the red planet in unprecedented detail.

The $40 million camera, aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, captured pictures from an orbit 1,547 miles above the planet, just less than two weeks after the spacecraft executed the difficult maneuver known as orbit insertion.

Though they’re test images from high altitude with less than ideal lighting conditions, the pictures contain interesting elements of the Martian surface, said Alfred McEwen, a professor in the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the leader of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment.

“They’re great images,” McEwen said. “They’re what all of us were hoping for - better than some people were expecting.”

Perhaps more importantly, the images reassured the team that the camera is functioning properly and offered an opportunity to calibrate the instrument.

“It’s great these images turned out well because a lot of things had to work right, including exactly how the spacecraft points and the stability,” McEwen said. “It turned out just right.”

The camera will take a few more pictures Saturday and another round in late September and early October, but the bulk of the images won’t be taken until November, when the spacecraft reaches its final orbit of about 190 miles above Mars.