![]() Kennedy Space Center on to prepare it for launch. There were no major setbacks during MRO's construction, and the spacecraft was moved to John F. By the end of 2001 all of the mission's instruments were selected. On October 3, 2001, NASA chose Lockheed Martin as the primary contractor for the spacecraft's fabrication. The satellite was also to include a visible-near-infrared spectrograph. Garvin, the Mars exploration program scientist for NASA, proclaimed that MRO would be a "microscope in orbit". Early specifications of the satellite included a large camera to take high resolution pictures of Mars. MRO is modeled after NASA's highly successful Mars Global Surveyor to conduct surveillance of Mars from orbit. The orbiter mission was rescheduled for launch in 2005, and NASA announced its final name, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, on October 26, 2000. One of two missions considered for the 2003 Mars launch window, the MRO proposal lost against what became known as the Mars Exploration Rovers. MRO's telecommunications system will transfer more data back to Earth than all previous interplanetary missions combined, and MRO will serve as a highly capable relay satellite for future missions. It paves the way for future spacecraft by monitoring Mars' daily weather and surface conditions, studying potential landing sites, and hosting a new telecommunications system. MRO contains a host of scientific instruments such as cameras, spectrometers, and radar, which are used to analyze the landforms, stratigraphy, minerals, and ice of Mars. Mars Global Surveyor and the Spirit rover have since ceased to function the remainder remain operational as of March 2016. As MRO entered orbit, it joined five other active spacecraft that were either in orbit or on the planet's surface: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Express, 2001 Mars Odyssey, and the two Mars Exploration Rovers ( Spirit and Opportunity) at the time, this set a record for the most operational spacecraft in the immediate vicinity of Mars. In November 2006, after five months of aerobraking, it entered its final science orbit and began its primary science phase. It was launched August 12, 2005, and attained Martian orbit on March 10, 2006. The mission is managed by the California Institute of Technology, at the JPL, in La Cañada Flintridge, California, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The US$720 million spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin under the supervision of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ( MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. Lua error in a at line 80: module 'Module:No globals' not found. New CRISM Data Products Offer Greater Accessibility to Mars ResearchersĬRISM has acquired tens of thousands of targeted, high-resolution, hyperspectra Mars observations – and now, thanks to two new data products in the Planetary Data System, that data will be much more accessible to researchers.For other Mars orbiters, see Mars Orbiter. Volcanoes erupted beneath an ice sheet on Mars billions of years ago, far from any ice sheet on the Red Planet today, new evidence from CRISM suggests. In this interview by Spectroscopy Editors, CRISM Co-Investigator Ray Arvidson discusses "how spectroscopy has played a significant role in the Mars expeditions, including the confirmation of the former presence of water on the Red Planet." ĬRISM Reveals Clues about Volcanoes Under Ice on Ancient Mars Spectroscopy on Mars: A Look at What’s Been Uncovered About the Red Planet This new evidence will allow researchers to further narrow theories as to the mechanisms behind the formation of gullies on Mars. New findings using CRISM data show that gullies on modern Mars are most likely not being formed by flowing liquid water. Mars Gullies Likely Not Formed By Liquid Water Researchers using CRISM and other instruments have found eight sites where thick deposits of ice beneath Mars' surface are exposed in faces of eroding slopes. Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice Teams operating the two instruments aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) named most often in research papers - the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera and the CRISM mineral-mapper - are dealing with challenges but are ready to continue providing valuable observations. ![]() Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Preparing for Years Ahead
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