Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

Rxke · 2006-03-11 02:15:32

Picture-perfect orbit insertion, yay!

looking forward to the 1st readings and photos

Could be there earlier than anticipated, there's talk to do imageing during the initial phases, to have more imagery from the vincinity of Spirit.

(Who'd have ever guessed that scenario would be considered the day it landed?)

Palomar · 2006-03-11 06:48:03

*Yep, great news. Even my husband has been following MRO's progress. He gave me a couple of updates while I was working...though I'd been keeping tabs on the news sites.

cIclops · 2006-03-18 09:45:34

According to the MRO arrival press release, test images should have been taken on orbits 4 and 5 around March 14. Aerobraking is due to start about March 30.

Sorry about having to full in the gaps but there's no news at all from JPL or NASA since insertion.

cIclops · 2006-04-01 05:25:47

Everyone seems too busy arguing about politics to notice that MRO, the most powerful Mars orbiter ever built, has started aerobraking to reach its science orbit.

SpaceFlightNow article here

Rxke · 2006-04-01 05:56:53

That picture makes it look like it is Dust-breaking rather than aerobreaking!

Josh Cryer · 2006-04-09 13:39:46

I'm quite surprised that no one has updated about MRO! The new pictures that are coming down are astounding! Absolutely astounding! My God!

Take a look at their site here: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/

The full test picture is here: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery/ca … Color.html (link to info page and thumbnail, the actual image is 35MB!)

Download the big version, it is. I am speechless, I wish we had one of the oldies here, like Stu, to say something magical about this probe. It blows me away. And to think this is a test image! Under poor lighting conditions! My God! AHH!!

Rxke · 2006-04-12 03:50:15

When they talk about images an order of magnitude bigger, more detailed, you go: "Yeah, that's kinda cool"

It's only when you start downloading the stuff it really becomes apparent... What a jump we make, every new orbiter, rover, getting better and better.

I'm an avid Midnight Mars browser gawker, and the files (MER images) are tens of gigabytes on my harddisk...

Now I was wondering, if the nice people @ unmannedspaceflight.org start writing an addition that makes it possible to automatically download/stitch MRO imagery, not only will I have to go looking for a new harddrive, but for a new computer too! :shock:

cIclops · 2006-04-13 13:32:34

First images released from MRO CTX camera (built by Malin Space Science Systems)

cIclops · 2006-04-18 03:46:49

HiRISE image browser now online, with full zoom and pan working!

You have to see this

Rxke · 2006-04-18 04:51:20

Wow, that really brings home how the resolution has improved :shock:

cIclops · 2006-05-30 02:34:24

Project Scientist Rich Zurek interviewed on Plantary Radio talks about HiRISE and describes how MRO has to turn slightly to compensate for Mars rotation during high resolution imaging!

RedStreak · 2006-06-01 14:18:47

The MRO aerobraking seems to be progressing rather well, and even more smoothly than the MGS or Odessey even. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13049645/

Its now down to under 20 hours which isn't half-bad. That means it won't be long before the MRO makes 2 braking pases per day, then 3, 4, and so on with the braking burn lasting a bit longer each time - the article says near the end of aerobraking it will eventually spend as much as 20 minutes per brake which explains why engineers designed it to handle 175 degrees C even though its highest is -3 C for now.

I hope aerobraking ends soon so Shard can be deployed. After HiRISE I'm betting Shard is the next most important intrument - it will be probing for actual water reserves deep in the crust. It's great that this will be working in tandom with Marsis aboard Mars Express - each has different capabilities that complement each other.

Waiting for the results is like waiting for christmas isn't it?

cIclops · 2006-06-19 21:32:20

Aerobraking phase over halfway now according to this JPL News release

When the spacecraft first entered orbit around Mars, its farthest point from the planet was about 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles). After 11 weeks of aerobraking operations, this distance has been reduced to about 20,000 kilometers (12,000 miles). On each orbit since early April, the nearest-to-Mars portion of the orbit has passed through the upper atmosphere, usually at about 105 kilometers (65 miles) above the surface of the planet.

SpaceNut · 2006-08-30 21:16:36

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Nears End of Aerobraking or Nasa news release

After nearly 400 drag passes into the atmosphere during the closest-to-Mars portion of each orbit, the spacecraft has reduced the farthest point in its orbit to an altitude of 1,100 kilometers (684 miles).
The spacecraft takes 2 hours, 7 minutes to complete one orbit, as of Aug. 25. In contrast, during the weeks between Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's arrival at Mars on March 10 and its start of aerobraking in early April, the most distant point of each orbit was about 43,000 kilometers (27,000 miles) away from the planet and each orbit lasted about 35 hours.
The desired orbit for systematic observations by the spacecraft's six scientific instruments ranges from an altitude of 320 kilometers (199 miles) over Mars' north pole to an altitude of 255 kilometers (158 miles) over the south pole, a loop that takes one hour and 53 minutes to fly.

By using the aerobraking technique, the project has saved carrying 600 kilograms (about 1,300 pounds) of additional propellant to the red planet.

Up untill mid september the burns have been measured in seconds but the big one will be for 6 minutes.

cIclops · 2006-09-06 21:47:42

From MRO update

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter fired its six intermediate-size thrusters for 210 seconds Tuesday in a maneuver to make the shape of its orbit closer to the planned geometry for the mission's main science phase, beginning in November.
The maneuver raised the portion of the elliptical orbit at which the spacecraft comes nearest to Mars -- the periapsis -- from 216 kilometers (134 miles) above the surface to 320 kilometers (199 miles). A thruster firing on Aug. 30 had lifted the periapsis high enough to end a five-month process of dipping into the atmosphere every orbit to gradually shrink the orbit. The spacecraft now completes each loop around Mars in just under two hours.
The Sept. 5 maneuver also fine-tuned the orbit's angle relative to Mars' equator, tweaking it less than one degree to 92.5 degrees.
A longer firing of the engines next week is planned for lowering the high point of the orbit to make the shape more circular and for locking into a pattern of keeping the periapsis over Mars' South Pole and the far point -- the apoapsis -- over the North Pole.

cIclops · 2006-09-13 02:42:31

Science orbit at last!

JPL News release

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter fired its six intermediate-size thrusters for 12.5 minutes Monday afternoon, Sept. 11, shifting the low point of its orbit to stay near the Martian south pole and the high point to stay near the north pole. The altitude of the orbit ranges from 250 kilometers (155 miles) to 316 kilometers (196 miles) above the surface.
"This maneuver puts us into our science orbit," said Dan Johnston, deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

cIclops · 2006-09-20 03:59:02

The SHARAD (SHAllow Subsurface RADar) was successful deployed and tested on 18 September 2006

"We will use the Shallow Radar to map buried channels, to study the internal structure of ice caps and to see boundaries between layers of different materials," said Dr. Roberto Seu of the University of Rome La Sapienza, leader of the instrument's science team. "The data will provide our first detailed look just under the Martian surface, where ices might reside that would be accessible for future explorers."

RedStreak · 2006-09-20 14:34:26

Stirring to hear. Have they deployed the camera lens off CRISM yet or whichever intrument as well?

cIclops · 2006-09-24 12:08:38

Preprint of a paper entitled: MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) - Alfred McEwen, et al., 2006 (JGR 2006 preprint) now available online (PDF 23 MB)

Revised May 19, 2006
Minor corrections June 1, 2006
73 pages of text
27 Figures
9 Tables

cIclops · 2006-09-30 01:32:06

First HiRISE image taken from science orbit!

More details here

noosfractal · 2006-09-30 02:02:18

and number two ...

http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/TRA … 0825_2665/

Congrats to the HiRISE team. Just astounding.

Team blog is here ...

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/HiBlog/

RedStreak · 2006-09-30 10:46:41

Impressive. Do we have any idea what size region we're looking at so there's a reference for scale?

It looks like sand dunes, mesas, and rocky hills.

cIclops · 2006-09-30 11:59:01

And now both images are available with the Zoomify feature!

SpaceNut · 2006-10-01 20:46:58

RedStreak camera is a 20,000 x 40,000 pixel per image

at 30 cm per pixel if in a 300km orbit

gives a nice image of an area 6Km x 12Km

cIclops · 2006-10-06 11:23:18

HiRISE's stunning overview of Victoria crater shows a distinctive scalloped shape to its rim. This is formed by eroding crater wall material moving downhill. Layered sedimentary rocks are exposed along the inner wall of the crater, and boulders that have fallen from the crater wall are visible on the crater floor. A striking field of sand dunes covers much of the crater floor.

Article here and link to very high resolution image Note arrow pointing to the Opportunity rover!

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#88 2006-06-19 21:32:20

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#89 2006-08-30 21:16:36

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#90 2006-09-06 21:47:42

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#91 2006-09-13 02:42:31

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#92 2006-09-20 03:59:02

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#94 2006-09-24 12:08:38

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