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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
March 10, 2006
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Ooow, I stayed up way to late. Sharon is going to kill me! (I got to lv41 today, don’t kill me!)

Picture below may be clicked to see full sized.

I watched on NASA TV them getting the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter into position for orbit around Mars. This is the third orbiter we have in orbit around Mars, but what makes this one more special is how high of resolution the camera is. We’re going to be seeing rocks as small as 1 meter (roughly 1 yard) in width. Except for the pictures from the two rovers we have on the surface, this is the closest we’ve seen of the surface.

The MRO has the chance to send us more information on Mars than all other missions combined. MRO was launched August 12, 2005 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V-401 rocket. The MRO traveled from Aug 12 ‘05 until today at a speed of 6500 MPH (2900 m/s.) With the orbiter’s arival at Mars, they fired the engines to slow it down to 1250 MPH (1900 m/s.)

For the next six months, a tricky set a maneuvers will set the MRO into a stable orbit. Currently it will take nearly 35 hours for one orbit due to the speed and angle of entry. NASA will have the MRO do ‘aerobreaking’, which is where they have the orbiter dip into the atmosphere to cause drag (due to friction from the atmosphere) to slow it down. Over the months ahead the orbiter should slow down and assume a close to planet orbit. This was required so that they didn’t have to put as much fuel on the orbiter, saving money and allowing more weight in instruments. Also, the attena placed on this orbiter is the largest ever placed onto a deep space object. The amount of data to be sent back is going to be faster and in larger amounts than ever before.

I love the idea of space exploration, and can not wait to see the images returned from this orbiter. It’s also the reason I couldn’t sleep today, I had to watch this!

  • Image 1: Rover landing site, just after landing.
  • Image 2: Rover landing site, as the rover moves away.
  • Image 3: View from the Viking Lander.