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Camera Behind New Mars Images Built By Boulder Company

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - NASA announced Monday that there is new evidence in the form of photos that shows Mars, once considered a dry planet, may actually have water and scientists in Colorado helped with that discovery.

Scientists are saying the new images are changing everything they thought they knew about mars. The camera that took those photos, called HiRISE, was designed and built by a Colorado company.

Engineers at Ball Aerospace thought their device would stop taking pictures in 2008 and never imagined it would lead to something as significant as this.

"The results I think speak for themselves and have just taken some outstanding pictures of Mars," said

HiRISE cam
(credit: Ball Aerospace)

engineer Tom Ebben.

Ebben and a team of others at Ball Aerospace in Boulder began work on HiRISE over a decade ago.

"Of course when you're putting it together you know it's eventually going to be an important piece of hardware, going to the planet Mars, and so you put your best effort into it," Ebben said.

The actual size of HiRISE is five times the size of the model at their facility, capable of capturing images the size of a coffee table.

Hale Crater mars
Hale Crater (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona via Getty Images)

Since its launch in 2005, Ebben estimates HiRISE has sent back nearly 20,000 photos of mars.

Those images helped lead to the most recent discovery, which NASA scientists say could help them determine if there is life on the planet.

"We haven't been able to answer the question, does life exists beyond earth. But following the water is a critical element of that," said Jim Green, NASA's Director of Planetary Science.

Ebben heard the announcement like everyone else, but said it's thrilling to know he had a hand in the project.

"I think we'll be seeing some people in the hallways and giving ourselves high fives on this," Ebben laughed.

The folks at Lockheed Martin in Littleton are also giving themselves high fives after the Mars announcement -- they built and operate the spacecraft that the HiRISE camera is mounted on.

Karen Morfitt Joined the CBS4 team as a reporter in 2013. She covers a variety of stories in and around metro Denver. Follow her on Twitter @karenmorfitt or email her tips.

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