NASA’s next mission to Mars will examine the red planet in unprecedented detail from low orbit and provide more data about the intriguing planet than all previous missions combined. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its launch vehicle are nearing final stages of preparation at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for a launch opportunity that begins Aug. 10, 2005. The spacecraft will examine Martian features ranging from the top of the atmosphere to underground layering. Researchers will use it to study the history and distribution of Martian water. It will also support future Mars missions by characterizing landing sites and providing a high-data-rate communications relay.
May 1st, 2005
Hopes high for new Mars craft being sent to NASA this week Denver Post
Engineer Kevin McNeill compares the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to his two children, who recently left home for college. “You’re hopeful everything you’ve done in 18 years of raising that child has prepared him for life on his own,” McNeill said Wednesday, hours before he and his colleagues boxed the school-bus-size craft for shipping. On Friday, McNeill and the rest of his Lockheed Martin team will send their $500 million baby to Florida. NASA is expected to launch the craft Aug. 10, 2005.
April 6th, 2005
Lockheed Martin Delivers Atlas V to Cape Canaveral for NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission MarsToday.com
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin mark another significant milestone in the Mars space exploration program as .Lockheed Martin delivered the vehicle that will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission to Mars. The Atlas V, designated AV-007, arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., where the launch team will now begin preparations for the August 10, 2005 liftoff.
January 19th, 2005
Hello Mars, Meet ‘MR. O’: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is one giant spacecraft, built to take unprecedented photos of the red planet. Engineers are in test time mode here at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, builder of the spacecraft, as the countdown ticks down for the probe
January 8th, 2005
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status
Even as the Spirit and Opportunity rovers complete a year of successful operation on Mars, the next major step in Mars Exploration is taking shape with preparation of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for launch in just seven months. The orbiter is undergoing environmental tests in facilities at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo., where its Atlas V launch vehicle is also being prepared. Developments are on schedule for a launch window that begins on Aug. 10, 2005.
December 21st, 2004
Mars reconnaissance mission hits milestone Rocky Mountain News
Boulder and Denver aerospace companies joined forces this month when the most powerful Mars camera ever built was installed on NASA’s $500 million Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The orbiter is under construction at Lockheed Martin Space System’s Waterton Canyon facility southwest of Denver. The camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies in Boulder.
December 9th, 2004
Ultra-sharp, Mars-Bound HiRISE Camera Delivered University of Arizona
The camera that will take thousands of the sharpest, most detailed pictures of Mars ever produced from an orbiting spacecraft was delivered today for installation on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will be launched on Aug. 10, 2005, carrying a payload of six science instruments and a communications relay package to boost the ongoing exploration of the red planet.
November 11th, 2004
Mars answers spur questions Rocky Mountain News
Five spacecraft are circling Mars and creeping across its ruddy surface, looking for traces of long-gone waters and signs that the cold, arid planet may once have been hospitable to life. The robotic martian invasion – three orbiters and two six-wheeled rovers – has already uncovered strong evidence that water once flowed on Mars and is now locked in subsurface ice. But big questions about water on Mars remain. When did it flow? How long did it last? How much was there? Where did it come from? Where did it go? Perhaps the most tantalizing question: Were there long-lived watery environments where microbial life could have gained a foothold?
October 13th, 2004
Red Planet Bound: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The next spacecraft destined for Mars is rapidly coming together here on Earth — an interplanetary probe that carries the most powerful instruments ever sent to the red planet.
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO for short, is being readied for sendoff next year. The huge spacecraft carries a suite of instruments, including a camera system able to provide ultra-close-up images of Mars’ surface, and a sounder to probe for water that might linger subsurface on the planet.
October 13th, 2004
Free Programs Will Preview NASA’s Next Mars Mission AScribe Newswire
Two free public programs in Pasadena this week will introduce NASA’s next Mars mission, a multipurpose orbiter under assembly for launch next August. NASA is equipping the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions, and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions.