Jittery NASA scientists waited on Wednesday for the most advanced spacecraft ever sent to another planet to make its risky final approach to Mars, where it is due to return 10 times the data of all previous probes put together.
February 22nd, 2006
New orbiter will provide future missions with high data rates IEEE Spectrum
When NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reaches the Red Planet next month, it will immediately seek out areas where water once flowed, try to identify habitats where ancient life might have thrived, and start mapping the entire planet in unprecedented detail. But the orbiter’s arrival at Mars will also set the stage for a new epoch in spacecraft telecommunications. Its onboard Electra UHF relay transceiver [see photo, “Relay”] will serve as an engineering test bed for new communications and navigation technology that will be required for all future orbiters, landers, and rovers, to provide the faster data rates required for transfer of information from rovers and landers on the Martian surface to orbiters circling above.
December 19th, 2005
Ham Hears Mars Orbiter 45 Million Miles From Earth Slashdot
Richard L. James writes “As reported on the Mars-net email list Flight Refuelling Amateur Radio Society’s resident satcom + WLAN guru Paul J. Marsh (M0EYT) has managed to detect and receive NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on X band at a staggering range of 45 million miles from Earth using a home made receiver setup and a RFspace SDR-14 software radio.”
November 21st, 2005
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Halfway to Destination
A NASA spacecraft is halfway toward Mars where it is expected to collect more data on the Red Planet than all previous Martian explorations combined. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully fired its six engines for 20 seconds last week to adjust its flight path in anticipation of a March arrival. It will fine-tune its trajectory two more times before it enters orbit around Mars, said Allen Halsell, deputy navigation chief at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Once in orbit, the two-ton spacecraft will join a trio of probes currently flying around Mars.
October 10th, 2005
UA zooms in on Mars with HiRISE camera Tucson Citizen
A new public exhibit, including a full-scale mock-up of the highest resolution camera ever sent into orbit, is nearing completion in the operations center of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment mission to Mars. The real 120-pound HiRISE camera, streaking toward Mars since its Aug. 12 launch from Cape Canaveral, is expected to reach the red planet in March, said Lorretta McKibben, public outreach coordinator for HiRISE, housed in the Sonett Space Sciences Building at the University of Arizona.
August 11th, 2005
Mars Orbiter Launch Rescheduled for Friday
NASA postponed the launch of a spacecraft to Mars on Thursday after a glitch popped up in the computer software used for monitoring the fueling of the rocket used for liftoff. The problem with sensors and software that measure the amount of fuel being loaded into the rocket appeared with just minutes left until liftoff. The launch was rescheduled for Friday morning, three days after the shuttle Discovery returned to Earth.
August 10th, 2005
Mars orbiter launch delayed a day
A year and a half after twin robot rovers thrilled space fans with their hijinks on Mars, NASA is heading there again. But Tuesday, the agency announced Wednesday’s scheduled blast off was postponed one day so that equipment used to guide the vehicle during liftoff can be checked out by the manufacturer. The fourth Mars orbiter is set to launch on an Atlas V rocket Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will carry some of the most sophisticated science instruments ever sent into space, including the largest telescopic camera sent to another planet.
August 4th, 2005
Scientists hope third-time-lucky for mission to Mars Western Mail
WELSH scientists are playing a vital role in Nasa’s 17th mission to Mars next month. They are hoping it will be a case of third-time-lucky for one of the instruments onboard – the Mars Climate Sounder. Two previous attempts to put this instrument into orbit around Mars have been besieged by troubles, but a team of infra red instrumentation specialists from Cardiff University, led by Professor Peter Ade and Dr Darren Hayton of the School of Physics and Astronomy, believe that this time the instrument, designed and assembled by Nasa JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in Pasadena, California, will get there.