Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - Page 4

Spacemad · #91 (**permalink**) 12-November-2005, 10:17 PM

The images of the Moon sent back by the lastest Mars probe are stunning & bode well for the Mission once in Mars orbit!

I look forward to seeing more great images of Mars.

hal5000 · #92 (**permalink**) 15-November-2005, 12:49 AM

This should be able to find the Mars Polar Lander right???

ToSeek · #93 (**permalink**) 19-November-2005, 02:29 AM

Latest press release:

Quote:

Mars-Bound Nasa Craft Tweaks Course, Passes Halfway Point

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully fired six engines for about 20 seconds today to adjust its flight path in advance of its March 10, 2006, arrival at the red planet.

Since its Aug. 12 launch, the multipurpose spacecraft has covered about 60 percent of the distance for its trip from Earth to Mars. It will fly about 40-million kilometers (25-million miles) farther before it enters orbit around Mars. It will spend half a year gradually adjusting the shape of its orbit, then begin its science phase. During that phase, it will return more data about Mars than all previous missions combined. The spacecraft has already set a record transmission rate for an interplanetary mission, successfully returning data at 6 megabits per second, fast enough to fill a CD-ROM every 16 minutes.

"Today’s maneuver mainly increases the speed to bring us to the target point at just the right moment," said Tung-hanYou, chief of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter navigation team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The intended nudge in velocity is 75 centimeters per second (less than 2 miles per hour). The spacecraft's speed relative to the sun is about 27 kilometers per second (61,000 miles per hour).

Four opportunities for course adjustments were planned into the schedule before launch. Today's, the second, used only the trajectory-correction engines. Each engine produces about 18 newtons (4 pounds) of thrust. The first course adjustment, on Aug. 27, doubled as a test of the six main engines, which produce nearly eight times as much thrust. Those main engines will have the big job of slowing the spacecraft enough to be captured into orbit when it reaches Mars. The next scheduled trajectory adjustment, on Feb. 1, 2006, and another one 10 days before arrival will be used, if necessary, for fine tuning, said JPL's Allen Halsell, the mission's deputy navigation chief.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission will examine Mars in unprecedented detail from low orbit. Its instrument payload will study water distribution -- including ice, vapor or liquid -- as well as geologic features and minerals. The orbiter will also support future missions to Mars by examining potential landing sites and by providing a high-data-rate relay for communications back to Earth.

The mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft.

For information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on the Web, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mro . For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html .

Manchurian Taikonaut · #94 (**permalink**) 19-November-2005, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hal5000

This should be able to find the Mars Polar Lander right???

We can't be sure yet, none of the American or European craft have found it

but to judge from the MRO Moon pics this craft is going to have a great ability to see it, MRO should be very powerful

so it will be our best chance to find the polar lander

Wolverine · #95 (**permalink**) 30-December-2005, 10:03 PM

Just found this update:

Quote:

As part of a calibration test conducted on December 14, 2005, the HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this image of part of Jewel Box, an open star cluster. Jewel Box was so named by Sir John Herschel because of the variety of star colors in the cluster, including the large red giant seen near the bottom of this image.

"The images we've acquired of stars and the Moon have been very sharp," said Dr. Alfred McEwen, the camera's principal investigator. "The camera and spacecraft work great, so we are really looking forward to imaging Mars."

Can't wait for the first images.

Doodler · #96 (**permalink**) 30-December-2005, 10:35 PM

What's the operational lifespan of the MRO, assuming all goes well?

ToSeek · #97 (**permalink**) 30-December-2005, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doodler

What's the operational lifespan of the MRO, assuming all goes well?

The "Primary Science Phase" is one Martian year from the onset of science operations, planned to be November 2006-November 2008. But MGS is coming up on the 10th anniversary of its launch and is still going strong. I don't know of any reason why MRO can't do likewise.

Launch window · #98 (**permalink**) 11-January-2006, 08:50 AM

As Toseek says "Primary Science Phase" is the big one but later on in the mission hey'll have to go through all the Congress/NASA-budget stuff like mission extension approvals, and one-year extensions but MRO is planned to be in orbit for 4 years, the science mission is for an expected two-year period after aerobraking and technical checks are completed

ToSeek · #99 (**permalink**) 11-January-2006, 03:42 PM

It's very rare to pull the plug on an operational mission, and it's never happened (yet) to any spacecraft outside of Earth's orbit.

Launch window · #**100** (**permalink**) 12-January-2006, 10:32 AM

NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: Southern Cross (Constellation Crux) Star Calibration Image
http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=19116
Imaging stars while a Mars-bound spacecraft is in its cruise phase provides a good way to verify that a camera is in good focus, following the rigors of the launch from Florida. It also allows measurement of the camera's alignment relative to the other instruments on the spacecraft.

ToSeek · #**101** (**permalink**) 09-February-2006, 05:23 PM

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is on the Approach

Quote:

NASA's next martian orbiter has gotten one step closer to the red planet with the transition from cruise phase to approach phase!
...
The next trajectory correction maneuver opportunity is scheduled for February 28, 2006. The orbiter will arrive at the planet on March 10, 2006.

publiusr · #**102** (**permalink**) 09-February-2006, 10:11 PM

Chalk another one up for Atlas.

01101001 · #**103** (**permalink**) 24-February-2006, 08:26 AM

NASA TV Schedule

Quote:

February 24, Friday
1 p.m. [1300 EST, 1000 PST, 1800 GMT] - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter News Conference - HQ (Interactive Media Briefing) (Public and Media Channels)

Watch NASA TV

Arrival: March 10, 2006. Two weeks to go.

Wolverine · #**104** (**permalink**) 24-February-2006, 08:37 AM

Note: MRO will be featured in "Revealing Mars" -- airing on the Science Channel at 9:00 PM ET on March 10th.

Quote:

The MRO will make a more comprehensive inspection of this planetary neighbor than any previous mission. Walk through the orbiter's scientific payload and discover the passion behind this groundbreaking mission.

ToSeek · #**105** (**permalink**) 24-February-2006, 07:25 PM

Anybody watch the news conference? I completely forgot about it.

01101001 · #**106** (**permalink**) 24-February-2006, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

Anybody watch the news conference? I completely forgot about it.

Yes.

Oh, content? I didn't watch it hard. It mostly seemed to be a briefing to refresh the press to the fact that MRO was on approach. They described the mission, craft, instruments, upcoming events. I don't believe it was anything you couldn't educate yourself on with a trip to the mission pages:
NASA MRO
JPL MRO

Edit: New: MRO Latest News: NASA's Next Leap in Mars Exploration Nears Arrival February 24

Quote:

As it nears Mars on March 10, a NASA spacecraft designed to examine the red planet in unprecedented detail from low orbit will point its main thrusters forward, then fire them to slow itself enough for Mars' gravity to grab it into orbit.

Ground controllers for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter expect a signal shortly after 1:24 p.m. Pacific time (4:24 p.m. Eastern time) that this mission-critical engine burn has begun. However, the burn will end during a suspenseful half hour with the spacecraft behind Mars and out of radio contact.

ToSeek · #**107** (**permalink**) 27-February-2006, 05:39 PM

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter nears arrival at red planet

Quote:

NASA's $720 million Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission faces a make-or-break milestone March 10 when it fires its main engines for nearly a half hour, slowing the craft enough to slip into orbit around the red planet.

If the burn doesn't work or is too short, the 4,800-pound solar-powered MRO will race past Mars and on into a useless orbit around the sun. Given the spacecraft's excellent health after a seven-month, 310-million-mile cruise to Mars, mission managers are confident everything will work as advertised.

The article includes a handy timeline of orbit entry events.

tlbs101 · #**108** (**permalink**) 28-February-2006, 05:12 PM

What I still want to know is; might there be enough fuel left after MOI burn, aerobraking maneuvers, and science gathering station keeping maneuvers, to increase the orbital altitude to a higher, more useful comm-relay orbit?

ToSeek · #**109** (**permalink**) 28-February-2006, 06:04 PM

I would think they would use it for its science mission for as long as possible.

As for comm relay, Mars Odyssey is managing to do a pretty good job at that as well as its science mission, so the orbit might not matter that much.