Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

Palomar · 2006-10-07 09:09:20

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

An enlarged version of that photo:

Nice to see that little metallic dot. Makes it seem all the more real.

[On a different note, I saw notice at spaceref.com earlier this week that they will no longer be hosting MOC photos. Making way for MRO, one presumes. Wish it were otherwise; why not host both?]

Josh Cryer · 2006-10-07 10:21:28

Here's the raw image at full resolution (no interploation): http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA08813.jpg

Guys. We need a poet. I swear I have not felt this way since the rovers landed. I literally am tearing up here. Amazing. Beautiful. No words.

cIclops · 2006-10-07 13:56:16

[On a different note, I saw notice at spaceref.com earlier this week that they will no longer be hosting MOC photos. Making way for MRO, one presumes. Wish it were otherwise; why not host both?]

All 212,000+ (and increasing) MOC images are available here

Julius Caeser · 2006-10-16 12:18:11

MRO press conference highlights:
64 images taken so far by Hirise
Close up views of ice deposits of North pole reveal signs of climate changes on Mars
Close up view of gullies in unnamed crater point to water origin
Variety of minerals mapped in floor of Mawrth vallis:variations in deposition of Iron rich clays and aluminum rich clays point to presence of microclimates on ancient Mars
8)

Stu · 2006-10-22 04:12:58

Did someone say "we need a poet"?

Sleeping

There she is. See her? That tiny black
Speck on the crater’s crumbling edge,
Just above the ledge where the New World
Falls away and tan becomes grey
With berries hissing and pouring into Victoria’s
Dune-rippled heart.

See that dark dot? We made that – Man,
Women and men, thousands of them,
Worker ants in white coats or ties, eyes
Fat from days without sleep, creeping
Home after dawn from their offices, factories and labs,
Whispering “Sorry…” again as they slid into bed;
Another meal or birthday party missed.

See that ink spot on the edge of the abyss?
We made this! Built it by hand in spotlight-bright
Clean rooms; we groomed, evolved apes
Bent metal against its but to our will.
Imagine that… monkey paws
That once chipped flint and ripped
Bloodied skins from spear-skewered prey
Now shape steel into wheels that rove across Mars!
Electronically embroidering silicon
Into miniature medieval tapestries
Of glorious silver and gold, they gently
Turn wrenches, tightening bolts on panels and plates late
Night after late night, weary but thrilled by
The sight of their dreams taking shape
Piece by piece by piece by piece…

No, that’s no fleck on the lens,
That’s a metal Magellan exploring
An ocean of dust, sailing o’er rust-
Coloured cobbles and stones to stand
On the edge of Victoria and, hands shaking,
Roar at the pink sky “Ultreya!!”

One day men, women and children - Mars-born,
With faces pale from lack of sun and limbs lengthened
To long-fingered branches by their world’s
Begrudged gravity - will come to this place to
Stare at Her statue and be amazed,
Imagining the day when brave Opportunity,
Caked with dust and wearied from her trek
From Purgatory and over and through
A thousand deep dunes hauled herself to the edge
Of the Bay and said “Enough… let me rest here,
With the great sky above and gnarled, gargoyle-
Cluttered cliffs on all sides; let me hide
Here, peering down into this stadium of stone.
I am Home… let me sleep… Make me travel no more…”

See that mote on Mars’ sands? There we stand,
Each of us, each martian dreamer,
Fanatic and Fool. Our hearts are Her heart,
Her dust-dried eyes our own.
A mere machine is She no longer – if she ever was –
But a ship, as noble and strong as the creaking,
Slapping-sailed craft after which the great crater was named,
Carrying our hopes in her hold as she boldly goes
Where no ape-built machine has gone before:
To the shores of an amber-hued ocean of dreams.

There she is. See her? That tiny black
Speck on the crater’s crumbling edge.

Sleeping…

karolp · 2006-10-24 05:52:59

Mangnificent, with a flavour of Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke and a pinch of modern "desktop spacecraft" times as well. Thank you.

Rxke · 2006-10-27 01:00:09

Very nice, Stu.

Nice to see you still visit occasionally

cIclops · 2006-11-23 01:49:28

At long last some "new" images are now available, all were taken between 30 September and 6 October. The latest batch of 31 are here

Many are of the northern plains and polar regions probably taken in support of the upcoming Phoenix lander mission.

Check out this color image of Layered Deposits in Becquerel Crater

cIclops · 2006-12-01 05:37:50

Primary Science Phase (PSP) image are now available

cIclops · 2006-12-05 01:16:27

Mars Orbiter Photographs Spirit and Vikings on the Ground

New images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show three additional NASA spacecraft that have landed on Mars: the Spirit rover active on the surface since January 2004 and the two Viking landers that successfully reached the surface in 1976.

RedStreak · 2006-12-08 16:32:58

Amazing photographic capability - it is hard to believe the Vikings have been spotted from orbit and thirty years (give or take a few months) since they landed.

Obviously they're still sitting there, dead as frozen car batteries, but the photographs still leave me to wonder about their physical conditions. I guess we won't know until either an aerial probe visits (since the sites are too damn boring to warrant a shorter-ranged rover and certainly lander) or humans walk up to 'em.

I hope we'll hear some news from SHARD next, not that the photographs are bad but if you want some real back-up on that water gulley bit finding an underground lake will bolster the odds.

cIclops · 2006-12-14 04:20:12

Spacecraft Read Layered Clues to Changes on Mars

Some of the first radar and imaging results from NASA's newest Mars spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, show details in layers of ice-rich deposits near the poles. Observed variations in the layers' thickness and composition will yield information about recent climate cycles on the red planet.

cIclops · 2007-01-15 06:18:18

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft- JPL webcast lecture now archived

cIclops · 2007-01-15 10:16:10

Orbiter Sees Details of 1997 Pathfinder Site (11 Jan 2007)

cIclops · 2007-01-29 16:08:05

Images for Release: 24 January 2007

cIclops · 2007-02-09 06:59:20

Spacecraft Set to Reach Milestone, Reports Technical Glitches - 7 Feb 2007

First the good news:

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft this month is set to surpass the record for the most science data returned by any Mars spacecraft. While the mission continues to produce data at record levels, engineers are examining why two instruments are intermittently not performing entirely as planned. All other spacecraft instruments are operating normally and continue to return science data.
Since beginning its primary science phase in November 2006, the orbiter has returned enough data to fill nearly 1,000 CD-ROMs. This ties the record for Mars data sent back between 1997 and 2006 by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission.

Now the bad news:

In late November 2006, the spacecraft team operating the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter noticed a significant increase in noise, such as bad pixels, in one of its 14 camera detector pairs. Another detector that developed the same problem soon after launch has worsened. Images from the spacecraft camera last month revealed the first signs of this problem in five other detectors.
While the current impact on image quality is small, there is concern as to whether the problem will continue to worsen.
In-flight data show that more warming of the camera's electronics before taking an image reduces or eliminates the problem. The imaging team aims to understand the root cause of the worsening over time and to determine the best operational procedures to maximize the long-term science benefits. The camera continues to make observations and is returning excellent images of the Martian surface.

cIclops · 2007-03-02 01:55:00

Interested in helping identifying features in MRO images as part of the HiRISE team?

Checkout HiRISE Clickworkers

Help direct scientists to the features that interest them — catalog HiRISE images.
HiRISE images are huge! A single image, zoomed in all the way, is more than ten computer screens wide and high. It would take a person a long time to systematically examine those 100 screens completely at full detail, even ignoring the significant time it would take to download a full image. Although it's possible for a scientist or other person to zoom in to areas that look promising (you can do that using the HiRISE online image viewer if you're curious), that will tend to overlook small features that appear in unexpected places, and those would be interesting to know about. With enough volunteers, a systematic inspection of the images at all scales may be possible.

cIclops · 2007-06-06 02:06:53

New improved image browser from the HiRISE team

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2007-10-08 01:41:50

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

Amazing photos, any more info on the Sharad (radar) instrument ?

RedStreak · 2008-03-03 17:30:27

GUYS CHECK THIS OUT!! http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 … anche.html

A REAL LIVE MARTIAN AVALANCHE! :shock: CAPTURED BY HIRISE!

Rxke · 2008-03-04 01:11:59

WOW!

cIclops · 2008-03-04 01:54:42

Yes WOW

Here's the press release from MRO and more images

A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has taken the first ever image of active avalanches near the Red Planet's north pole. The image shows tan clouds billowing away from the foot of a towering slope, where ice and dust have just cascaded down.

cIclops · 2008-03-20 09:11:09

The Earth and Moon as Seen from Mars Orbit by MRO HiRISE

This is an image of Earth and the Moon, acquired at 5:20 a.m. MST on 3 October 2007, at a range of 142 million kilometers, which gives the HiRISE image a scale of 142 km/pixel and an Earth diameter of about 90 pixels and a Moon diameter of 24 pixels. The phase angle is 98 degrees, which means that less than half of the disks of the Earth and Moon have direct illumination. We could image Earth/Moon at full disk illumination only when they are on the opposite side of the sun from Mars, but then the range would be much greater and the image would show less detail.

cIclops · 2008-04-07 11:59:45

Richard Zurek: Earth Attacks! New Results from the Planet Mars - webcast lecture - 20 Feb 2008

Detailed lecture and notes, well worth 54 minutes.

In a Watson Lecture, JPL's Richard Zurek, a project scientist for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, presented detailed images of the red planet's atmosphere, surface, and subsurface, and discussed how missions to Mars have changed our understanding of the planet's climate and history. Starting with the 1996 launches of Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor, a diverse range of spacecraft have been placed in Mars's orbit or landed on its surface, including the still-operating Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance orbiters, the Mars Exploration Rovers, and Europe's Mars Express orbiter.

Lecture slides (5MB)

Commodore · 2008-04-10 21:24:33

Some great shots of Phobos

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#101 2006-10-07 09:09:20

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#102 2006-10-07 10:21:28

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#103 2006-10-07 13:56:16

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#104 2006-10-16 12:18:11

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#105 2006-10-22 04:12:58

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#106 2006-10-24 05:52:59

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#107 2006-10-27 01:00:09

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#108 2006-11-23 01:49:28

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#109 2006-12-01 05:37:50

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#110 2006-12-05 01:16:27

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#111 2006-12-08 16:32:58

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#112 2006-12-14 04:20:12

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#113 2007-01-15 06:18:18

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#114 2007-01-15 10:16:10

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#115 2007-01-29 16:08:05

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#116 2007-02-09 06:59:20

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#117 2007-03-02 01:55:00

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#118 2007-06-06 02:06:53

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#119 2007-10-08 01:41:50

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#120 2008-03-03 17:30:27

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#121 2008-03-04 01:11:59

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#122 2008-03-04 01:54:42

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#123 2008-03-20 09:11:09

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#124 2008-04-07 11:59:45

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

#125 2008-04-10 21:24:33

Re: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

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