With one very busy year remaining before launch, the team preparing NASA’s next mission to Mars has begun integrating and testing the spacecraft’s versatile payload. Possible launch dates from Cape Canaveral, Florida, for NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter begin Aug. 10, 2005. The spacecraft will reach Mars seven months later to study the surface, subsurface and atmosphere with the most powerful instrument suite ever flown to the red planet. “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a quantum leap in our spacecraft and instrument capabilities at Mars,” said James Graf, the mission’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “Weighing 2,180 kilograms [4,806 pounds] at launch, the spacecraft will be the largest ever to orbit Mars.
Doing Mars In Greater Detail Than Ever Before
When it enters its final path around the red planet, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will be closer to the martian surface than any other orbiter has ever gone. This closeness will enable the orbiter to get more detailed images than ever before from above the planet’s surface, and its sophisticated suite of science instruments will reveal much more about Mars and its water history. It will also become the first link in a communications bridge back to Earth, an “interplanetary internet” that can be used by numerous international spacecraft in coming years.
Big risks, rewards in 2007 mission Arizona Daily Star
Winning the largest single grant in UA history for a 2007 mission to Mars against stiff competition sounds easy when compared with safely landing the $300 million spacecraft on the surface of the Red Planet. A soft touchdown for the spacecraft dubbed the Phoenix mission was the main topic at the first formal meeting of mission scientists held this week, said William Boynton, UA cosmochemist and co-principal investigator for the mission.
Dream Machine: Quantum Step to Mars Set for 2005
Save a lot of room in your Mars picture book. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a you-haven’t-seen-anything-yet spacecraft. Set for liftoff in August 2005, the MRO will scrutinize the red planet like no previous orbiter and become the cornerstone of a futuristic interplanetary Internet. Tipping the scales at over two tons, this interplanetary probe is geared to relay back images and science measurements using the widest dish antenna and highest power level ever operated at Mars. As the “inspector general” in the Mars brigade from Earth, MRO is expected to yield unmatched close-up observations of Martian features. Its suite of high-resolution instruments will also assist in pinpointing sites of high science payoff for future landers, plus help ascertain touchdown hazards for robotic vehicles as well as future human expeditionary crews.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Coming in 2005
As Earth pulls away from Mars after last month’s close approach, NASA is developing a spacecraft that will take advantage of the next close encounter in 2005. That spacecraft will make a more comprehensive inspection of our planetary neighbor than any previous mission.
Spotlight: If You Thought That Was a Close View of Mars, Just Wait
As Earth pulls away from Mars after last month’s close approach, NASA is developing a spacecraft that will take advantage of the next close encounter in 2005. That spacecraft, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, will make a more comprehensive inspection of our planetary neighbor than any previous mission.
Phoenix Lander Selected for 2007 Scout Mission Martian Soil
The University of Arizona and Planetary Laboratory’s Phoenix design has won the bid for NASA 2007 Scout Mission to Mars, netting them a staggering 325 million dollar funding grant. The Phoenix Mission, which will carry equipment designed by UA researchers Peter Smith and William Boynton, will put a lander on the icy northern plains of Mars. The lander’s robotic arm will excavate a trench and retrieve samples for geological and chemical analysis.
French space agency, in deficit, axes two programmes
France’s space agency announced on Wednesday it would pull out of major missions to explore Mars and to peer into the phenomena of deep space after it notched up a cash shortfall of 90 million euros (99 million dollars) last year. As part of the cuts, the CNES would scrap French participation in Netlander, in which a US-European consortium plans to send four landers to Mars in 2007 to map its terrain and weather system.
Hunting for Marsquakes Astronomy.com
Earthquakes great and small happen virtually every day on our planet. Even our moon experiences quakes. But do any of our planetary neighbors, like Mars, get shaken? Scientists don’t know, but they will soon find out. Since the 1960s, researchers have sent numerous spacecraft to explore Mars. These probes, such as the Mariner series, brought back images of craters and relics of ancient volcanoes on the Red Planet’s surface. But no one was sure what was happening inside Mars. Underground, it might well be seething with activity. Now, Thomas Pike of the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London is designing an instrument to check for “marsquakes.”
NASA Selects ILS to Launch Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005 International Launch Services
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center has chosen International Launch Services (ILS) to launch the latest in its series of missions to Mars. ILS is scheduled to launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on an Atlas III launch vehicle in August 2005 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The Atlas is one of three families of rockets offered by ILS, which is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and two Russian companies, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia of Moscow. ILS was formed to market and manage the missions for the Atlas and the Russian Proton and Angara vehicles. Both the Atlas rocket and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are being built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. of Denver. The Atlas II and III series boast a perfect record of 100 percent mission success in 60 consecutive launches.