Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - Page 3

JimTKirk · #61 (**permalink**) 11-August-2005, 01:17 PM

24 hour hold due to sensor troubles...

justinv3 · #62 (**permalink**) 11-August-2005, 03:14 PM

So I'm in Texas. Central Time here in US. At what hour my time would it be launching. Well, if it hadn't been posponed.

Thanks.

JimTKirk · #63 (**permalink**) 11-August-2005, 03:35 PM

Before the end of the NASA TV broadcast, they gave a tentative lift-off time of 9:45 AM Eastern. That would be 8:45 AM Central.

justinv3 · #64 (**permalink**) 11-August-2005, 03:44 PM

Thank you!

So it will be at 8:45 tomorrow? Or was it supposed to be 8:45 today. If the later is true, at what time then would it be launched tomorrow, if anyone knows.

01101001 · #65 (**permalink**) 11-August-2005, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinv3

So it will be at 8:45 tomorrow? Or was it supposed to be 8:45 today. If the later is true, at what time then would it be launched tomorrow, if anyone knows.

Keep up-to-date at MRO Mission Page

Quote:

Launch Date:
August 12

Launch Window:
7:43 a.m. to 9:43 a.m.

tlbs101 · #66 (**permalink**) 11-August-2005, 05:28 PM

I heard on the radio coming to work this morning -- they were having problems with some fuel sensors. The first thing I thought of: is it the sensor itself, or my telemetry circuit gone bad.

So far, no word from LockMart, so I suppose our equipment is working OK, and it really is the actual sensor(s).

I hope they figure it out.

When does the overall 2005 Mars "window" close? Sometime in September?

The Bad Astronomer · #67 (**permalink**) 11-August-2005, 06:08 PM

From NASA HQ:

Quote:

NASA'S MARS ORBITER LAUNCH DELAYED 24 HOURS

The launch of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been postponed. The new launch window is 7:43 to 9:43 a.m. EDT, Friday, August 12.

The delay was called after engineers saw an anomalous reading in the hydrogen propellant loading system on the Atlas V. There was insufficient time in the launch window to fully investigate the reading. The Atlas V vehicle is being de-tanked. The rocket will remain on the launch pad, and the MRO spacecraft is secured.

Tomorrow's weather forecast calls for a chance for isolated coastal showers. There is a 20 percent probability of not meeting the launch weather criteria.

amstrad · #68 (**permalink**) 11-August-2005, 10:37 PM

Does the MRO need to be in an equitorial parking orbit before the Trans Martian Injection burn? If so, does it get to a zero inclination orbit as part of the orbital insertion?

I can't seem to visualize an Earth-Mars transfer with the high Earth orbital inclination associated with launching from KSC. The only thing I can think of is the first Centaur burn is done over the equator and equitorializes the parking orbit.

Cylinder · #69 (**permalink**) 12-August-2005, 11:39 AM

MRO launch coverage from NASA TV has started. The NASA and Lockheed polls for the 4 minute hold are both GO. Count is restarting.

Cylinder · #70 (**permalink**) 12-August-2005, 11:49 AM

So far, so good - Atlas has seperated and Centaur is burning. Payload seperation next up.

Maksutov · #71 (**permalink**) 12-August-2005, 01:20 PM

From Spaceflight Now

Quote:

1258 GMT (8:58 a.m. EDT)

T+plus 75 minutes. NASA's two-and-a-half ton Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, an instrument-laden spacecraft designed to capture an unprecedented level of detail about the Red Planet and help guide future missions, has successfully departed Earth.

Liftoff of the Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket occurred on time this morning 7:43 a.m. EDT (1143 GMT) from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

MRO should arrive at Mars next March and start five months of aerobraking maneuvers to reach its science-collecting near-polar orbit stretching from 199 miles above the planet's surface at its furthest point to just 158 miles at the closest.

Laguna2 · #72 (**permalink**) 12-August-2005, 01:29 PM

=D> =D> =D>

John Kierein · #73 (**permalink**) 12-August-2005, 01:47 PM

Cool.
By the way CRRES was truly a joint mission. Our contract was with NASA to build the spacecraft, but the AF provided much of the funding and the AF payloads. NASA provided the launch vehicle and the NASA payloads. Mission operations were from an AF facility.

publiusr · #74 (**permalink**) 12-August-2005, 05:46 PM

I'm just glad to see Altas Centaur back in action. One way or the other--its been too long since we had an actual probe atop one. Treat the launcher community well--and it treats you well.

01101001 · #75 (**permalink**) 19-August-2005, 05:56 AM

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status August 18

Quote:

"We have transitioned from launch mode to cruise mode, and the spacecraft continues to perform extremely well," said Dan Johnston, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The first and largest of four trajectory correction maneuvers scheduled before the orbiter reaches Mars is planned for Aug. 27.

For the calibration task on Aug. 15, the spacecraft slewed about 15 degrees to scan the camera across the positions of the Earth and Moon, then returned to the attitude it will hold for most of the cruise. Data were properly recorded onboard, downlinked to Earth and received by the Mars Color Imager team at Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. Dr. Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, principal investigator for Mars Color Imager, said the image data are being processed and analyzed.

publiusr · #76 (**permalink**) 19-August-2005, 07:51 PM

Very good.

01101001 · #77 (**permalink**) 20-August-2005, 02:17 AM

Calibration Image of Earth by (MRO) Mars Color Imager

(I wonder why it's on a JPL MER page.)

It ain't much to look at.

Quote:

The purpose of acquiring an image of Earth and the Moon just three days after launch was to help the Mars Color Imager science team obtain a measure, in space, of the instrument's sensitivity, as well as to check that no contamination occurred on the camera during launch. Prior to launch, the team determined that, three days out from Earth, the planet would only be about 4.77 pixels across, and the Moon would be less than one pixel in size, as seen from the Mars Color Imager's wide-angle perspective. If the team waited any longer than three days to test the camera's performance in space, Earth would be too small to obtain meaningful results.

The images were acquired by turning Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter toward Earth, then slewing the spacecraft so that the Earth and Moon would pass before each of the five color and two ultraviolet filters of the Mars Color Imager. The distance to Earth was about 1,170,000 kilometers (about 727,000 miles).

publiusr · #78 (**permalink**) 24-August-2005, 04:42 PM

Found on the web.

http://www.planet4589.org/

The latest (issue no. 552) contains this excellent info on MRO

NASA's latest Mars mission was launched on Aug 12. MRO is twice the mass of other recent Mars missions, 2180 kg at launch - back to the scale of the ambitious but unsuccessful Mars Observer whose failure helped triggered creation of the `faster, better, cheaper' missions of the 1990s. The big spacecraft carries a big camera, the 0.5 meter aperture HiRISE telescope, which will return high resolution images of the surface, and a big 3-meter communications dish to allow a high data rate
for sending the pictures back. MRO has 1196 kg of hydrazine propellant, with six 170-Newton MR-107E Aerojet thrusters and six smaller 22-Newton MR-160E thrusters. The mutiple engines provide propulsion for course correction and Mars orbit insertion. MRO will reach Mars in March 2006.

The NASA Mars Program
---------------------

Spacecraft Launch Mass NASA Program

Mariner 3 1964 Nov 5 261 kg Mariner flyby (failed)
Mariner 4 1964 Nov 28 261 kg Mariner flyby
Mariner 6 1969 Feb 25 385 kg Mariner flyby
Mariner 7 1969 Mar 27 383 kg Mariner flyby
Mariner 8 1971 May 9 1031 kg Mariner orbiter (failed)
Mariner 9 1971 May 30 1031 kg Mariner orbiter
Viking 1 1975 Aug 20 3534 kg Viking orbiter/lander
Viking 2 1975 Sep 9 3526 kg Viking orbiter/lander
Mars Observer 1992 Sep 25 2565 kg Planetary Observer, failed
Mars Global Surveyor 1996 Nov 7 1062 kg Mars Surveyor Program
Mars Pathfinder 1996 Dec 4 880 kg Discovery Program
Mars Climate Orbiter 1998 Dec 11 629 kg Mars Surveyor Program, failed
Mars Polar Lander 1999 Jan 3 615 kg Mars Surveyor Program, failed
2001 Mars Odyssey 2001 Apr 7 730 kg Mars Surveyor Program
Mars Exploration Rover A 2003 Jun 10 1062 kg Mars Program
Mars Exploration Rover B 2003 Jul 8 1062 kg Mars Program
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 2005 Aug 12 2180 kg Mars Program

Launch of MRO was with a Lockheed Martin Atlas V, model 401, serial AV-007. The Atlas CCB stage fired for 4 minutes, followed by the first Centaur stage burn, putting MRO in a 148 x 185 km x 28.5 deg Earth parking orbit 14 min after launch. Centaur fired again at 1132 UTC to reach escape velocity, and separated from MRO at 1141 UTC, with both vehicles on hyperbolic Earth departure orbit with around 205 km perigee and 40.7 deg inclination. MRO passed lunar orbit on Aug 13 and is now
in a 1.013 x 1.680 AU x 3.1 (ecliptic) deg heliocentric transfer orbit to Mars. The Centaur is lagging slightly behind in a 1.013 x 1.659 AU orbit, targeted to miss Mars.

ToSeek · #79 (**permalink**) 25-August-2005, 04:26 PM

The Nuts and Bolts

Quote:

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched on August 12, and now is on its seven-month journey to the Red Planet. Once there, MRO will search for evidence for water in the martian atmosphere, surface, and subsurface. MRO also will provide detailed surveys of the planet, identifying any obstacles that could jeopardize the safety of future landers and rovers.

Jim Graf, Project Manager for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, gave a talk where he provided an overview of the mission. In part two of this edited transcript, Graf describes the instruments that will provide a great amount of detail about martian climate and topography.

publiusr · #80 (**permalink**) 26-August-2005, 07:42 PM

I wonder where that Centaur will end up. It might have been cool to see it burn apart over Mars.