MRO cruised through interplanetary space for 7.5 months before reaching Mars, and most of the scientific instruments and experiments were tested and calibrated en route. The Centaur upper stage of the rocket completed its burns over a fifty-six minute period and placed MRO in interplanetary transfer orbit towards Mars. On August 12, 2005, MRO was launched aboard an Atlas V-401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch of Atlas V carrying the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 11:43:00 UTC August 12, 2005 Kennedy Space Centre on to prepare it for launch. There were no major setbacks during MRO's construction, and the spacecraft was moved to John F. By the end of 2001 all of the mission's instruments were selected. On October 3, 2001, NASA chose Lockheed Martin as the primary contractor for the spacecraft's fabrication. The satellite was also to include a visible-near-infrared spectrograph. In this regard, Jim Garvin, the Mars exploration program scientist for NASA, proclaimed that MRO would be a 'microscope in orbit'. Early specifications of the satellite included a large camera to take high resolution pictures of Mars. MRO was modeled after NASA's highly successful Mars Global Surveyor to conduct surveillance of Mars from orbit. The orbiter mission was rescheduled for launch in 2005, and NASA announced its final name, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, on October 26, 2000. It was one of two missions being considered for the 2003 launch opportunity however, during the proposal process the orbiter competed and lost against what became known as the Mars Exploration Rovers. Mars Surveyor Orbiter, an orbiting satellite whose hallmark was a high-resolution camera, was first proposed to NASA in 1999. This is the largest number of active spacecraft to study another planet at the same time in the history of space exploration. MRO joins four other spacecraft currently studying Mars: Mars Express, Mars Odyssey, and two Mars Exploration Rovers. MRO's telecommunications system will transfer more data back to Earth than all previous interplanetary missions combined, and MRO will serve as a highly capable relay satellite for future missions.

It will pave the way for future spacecraft by monitoring daily weather and surface conditions, studying potential landing sites, and testing a new telecommunications system. MRO contains a host of scientific instruments such as cameras, spectrometers, and RADAR, which will be used to analyze the landforms, stratigraphy, minerals, and ice of Mars. It is expected to begin its primary science phase in November 2006. It has recently finished aerobraking, and entered its final science orbit. It was launched Augand attained Martian orbit on March 10, 2006. The $720 million USD spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin under the supervision of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ( MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, University of Arizona, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Italian Space Agency, Malin Space Science Systems, JPL Related subjects: Space transport Mars Reconnaissance OrbiterĬonceptual drawing of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Mars The goal is to lower the barriers for people who are interested in exploring Mars.2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. My mother, who just turned 78, can use this now. 'I wanted something that would be accessible to everyone,' said image processor Jay Dickson of Caltech's Bruce Murray Laboratory for Planetary Visualization, who led the project. The researchers who created the map spent six years working on it, and it was designed for scientific work as well as for the public to enjoy. Or you can just browse around the planet's surface, enjoying the mosaic, which has an incredible total of 5.7 trillion pixels. Other places not to miss are the Valles Marineris canyon system which stretches over 2,500 miles long and goes as deep as 4 miles down, and the Medusae Fossae formation which is a strange and dramatic landscape sculpted by volcanic activity. Some of the other fun locations to visit are of geological interest, like Olympus Mons, a shield volcano that is the largest mountain in the solar system and which stands two and a half times the height of Mount Everest.

Mars reconnaissance orbiter