Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - Page 5

yaohua2000 · #**121** (**permalink**) 05-March-2006, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

It will be in a near-polar orbit referred to as "Sun-synchronous," i.e., whenever MRO crosses the equator going north-to-south, it will be about 3 pm (Mars time) directly beneath the spacecraft. MGS (2 pm) and Mars Odyssey (5 pm) have similar orbits, with MGS having an orbit inclination of 93 degrees, where 90 is a perfect polar orbit, so it's not far off. It's also a standard approach taken for Earth-observation missions, like Landsat and EO-1.

From JPL Horizons, all Orbiter UTC, altitudes are geodetic, longitudes are planetocentric:

Quote:

2006-03-10 21:21:14 UTC, alt = 1000 km, lat = 73° S, lon = 285° E
2006-03-10 21:22:03 UTC, alt = 900 km, lat = 76° S, lon = 282° E
2006-03-10 21:22:57 UTC, alt = 800 km, lat = 80° S, lon = 278° E
2006-03-10 21:23:55 UTC, alt = 700 km, lat = 83° S, lon = 268° E
2006-03-10 21:25:02 UTC, alt = 600 km, lat = 86° S, lon = 232° E
2006-03-10 21:26:21 UTC, alt = 500 km, lat = 85° S, lon = 155° E
2006-03-10 21:28:09 UTC, alt = 400 km, lat = 78° S, lon = 130° E
2006-03-10 21:31:20 UTC, alt = 329 km, lat = 63° S, lon = 120° E

as above, you can find the spacecraft will be very close to Mars south pole, maximum latitude 86.72° S at 21:25:26 UTC, this will result a large inclination of the orbit.

Note, the planetocentric longitude is measured range from 0° E to 360° E for Mars and other planets/moons rotates from west to east.

ToSeek · #**122** (**permalink**) 06-March-2006, 02:54 PM

I should clarify that the Sun-synchronous orbit I was referring to is the final, operational orbit and is not the same as the orbit it will have initially or while it's using atmospheric braking to circularize its orbit.

ToSeek · #**123** (**permalink**) 06-March-2006, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlbs101

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?

An article in the Washington Post today indicates that that's the plan after a Mars year with science as the primary mission. But I assume that they'll keep taking pictures of Mars even when it's primarily a comm satellite.

yaohua2000 · #**124** (**permalink**) 06-March-2006, 09:46 PM

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was only 1000000 kilometers away from Mars at 2006-03-06 21:22:47 UTC.

Launch window · #**125** (**permalink**) 07-March-2006, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

An article in the Washington Post today indicates that that's the plan after a Mars year with science as the primary mission. But I assume that they'll keep taking pictures of Mars even when it's primarily a comm satellite.

thanks for the update

Launch window · #**126** (**permalink**) 08-March-2006, 03:20 AM

Inbound For Mars Is A Testing Time For MRO Team
http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Inb..._MRO_Team.html
Two other Mars missions heating up - Radar mapping polar caps, impact craters
http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=19195

Fourth orbiter to join Mars exploration
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/p...26/1001/NEWS01

ToSeek · #**127** (**permalink**) 08-March-2006, 04:35 PM

Get to Know MRO: Top 10 Facts About NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Quote:

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is set to arrive at the red planet Friday after a seven-month trip from Earth.

The largest orbiter sent to Mars in 30 years by NASA, the MRO spacecraft launched on Aug. 12, 2005 with six primary instruments to study the Martian surface, atmosphere and potential underground water and ice deposits. Armed with what’s billed as the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet, MRO is expected pick out choice landing spots for future Mars-bound spacecraft and may even solve the mystery of a lost 1999 lander in the process.

Here’s a handy primer on NASA’s MRO spacecraft, its mission and its road to Mars.

-- Tariq Malik

Eroica · #**128** (**permalink**) 11-March-2006, 11:45 AM

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Safely Enters Martian Orbit

Quote:

NASA controllers confirmed Friday the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had successfully completed its delicate orbital-insertion maneuver and had been nudged by the red planet's gravity into a perfect orbital trajectory.

Disinfo Agent · #**129** (**permalink**) 11-March-2006, 06:39 PM

Another article and a nice graph of the orbit of the probe, here.

Launch window · #**130** (**permalink**) 13-March-2006, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eroica

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Safely Enters Martian Orbit

great news !

should be great to see the first close-up data and pics on the red planet

folkhemmet · #**131** (**permalink**) 13-March-2006, 05:39 PM

Tax-dollars well spent!

The successful orbital insertion of MRO is great news. I hope the aerobreaking scheduled to take place will be just as successful. I have confidence that this mission will live up to its original promise of significantly increasing our understanding of Mars because the MRO team is a dedicated and very capable group of scientists. These types of space science accomplishments are all the more reason why NASA's space science budget should be enlarged rather than cut.

Jerry · #**132** (**permalink**) 13-March-2006, 06:34 PM

http://www.planetary.org/news/2006/0..._The_Mars.html

Quote:

They did notice that during the burn MRO appeared to be “underperforming by about 2%,” but the vehicle is smart enough to take care of itself, Eisen pointed out. “It actually burned 33 seconds longer to make up the difference and that’s why we came in so exact.”

2% is not a big deal, unless you reflect upon the last burn, Mid flight correction burn two, which was so precise that scheduled burns 3, 4 and 5 were all unnecessary - that is an error of less than 0.02%.

Curious

ToSeek · #**133** (**permalink**) 13-March-2006, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry Jensen

http://www.planetary.org/news/2006/0..._The_Mars.html

2% is not a big deal, unless you reflect upon the last burn, Mid flight correction burn two, which was so precise that scheduled burns 3, 4 and 5 were all unnecessary - that is an error of less than 0.02%.

Curious

Not really. That burn used a different set of engines from the orbit insertion burn.

Hamlet · #**134** (**permalink**) 13-March-2006, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

Not really. That burn used a different set of engines from the orbit insertion burn.

Yes. In addition it was explained in the post-MOI press conference that they think the slight underperformance was due to pressurization being lower than predicted. This was known prior to the engines firing, but since the pressure was still within limits, it was not deemed a concern.

The FSW noted the underperformance and burned the engines an additional 33 seconds to make up for it. The MRO signal was reaquired right on time. The predicted delta-V was 2,237.6 mph which they overshot by only 0.4 mph.

Nice navigating by the JPL team!

Launch window · #**135** (**permalink**) 16-March-2006, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamlet

Yes. In addition it was explained in the post-MOI press conference that they think the slight underperformance was due to pressurization being lower than predicted. This was known prior to the engines firing, but since the pressure was still within limits, it was not deemed a concern.

The FSW noted the underperformance and burned the engines an additional 33 seconds to make up for it. The MRO signal was reaquired right on time. The predicted delta-V was 2,237.6 mph which they overshot by only 0.4 mph.

Nice navigating by the JPL team!

thanks for the update

suntrack2 · #**136** (**permalink**) 18-March-2006, 08:06 AM

I have seen on television, information on MRO, this is a sort of steady eagle in the sky of mars. and many stories are awaited later to know in detail about mars, this is a very nice navigation machine fixed there by NASA, this is highly commendable one. World wants to know more about mars, about its surface and everything.

sunil

ToSeek · #**137** (**permalink**) 21-March-2006, 04:24 PM

First images coming this week:

New Mars Orbiter Ready for Action

Quote:

Scientists and engineers are ready to start testing the image-taking skills of the newest spacecraft to swing into orbit around Mars.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is in great shape after its arrival at the planet on March 10. It is now being readied to produce its first images of Mars this week—using the most powerful telescope camera ever sent to another planet.

The University of Arizona’s super-powerful High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera is scheduled to relay first test shots of Mars on March 23 to the HiRISE Operations Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

ToSeek · #**138** (**permalink**) 22-March-2006, 04:44 PM

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter blazes trail for future Mars missions

Quote:

Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) reached its destination 10 March, 7 months after launch, and is now in position to gradually descend into a low science orbit around the Red Planet. Its mission to pave the way for future rover and crewed missions will end late in 2010.

ToSeek · #**139** (**permalink**) 22-March-2006, 04:46 PM

Mars probe ready for risky move
Craft to descend into orbit only 190 miles up

Quote:

A NASA spacecraft hunting for water on Mars is set to begin another harrowing stage of its $720 million mission: a slow tip-toeing toward an orbit less than 200 miles above the planet.

On the heels of its March 10 arrival at Mars, the sophisticated spacecraft next week will begin a six-month series of carefully calculated dips into the planet's upper atmosphere that will slow the craft, a process known as aerobraking.