Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Update Thread

[exoscientist]

Anyone know if they'll be releasing images during each close fly-by during the aerobraking period?<br /> This was done for Mgs.<br /><br /> Bob Clark <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[telfrow]

As far as I can tell, these are the only two scheduled photo releases during the process. But I'll keep checking. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[kane007]

Sorry people, but no more pictures during aerobraking. For the protection of the science instruments they'll be shut down/(shielded?) for atleast the 6 months it'll take to finalise MRO's orbit.

 

[telfrow]

First MRO images, with zoom and pan features.<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[exoscientist]

Kane, do you have a source for that?<br /><br /> Bob Clark <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Third paragraph, here. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>Mars Cameras Debut as NASA Craft Adjusts Orbit</b><br /><br /><i>04.13.06<br /><br />Researchers today released the first Mars images from two of the three science cameras on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. <br /><br />Images taken by the orbiter's Context Camera and Mars Color Imager during the first tests of those instruments at Mars confirm the performance capability of the cameras. The test images were taken from nearly 10 times as far from the planet as the spacecraft will be once it finishes reshaping its orbit. Test images from the third camera of the science payload were released previously.</i><br /><br />Link <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[kane007]

Thankyou, telfrow. I was going to provide a link to NASA JPL that explains this in a much more long winded format, but your page was much more succent.

 

[telfrow]

I was there to get the Color Imager photo and saw it. Hope you don't mind me posting it. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[larper]

Just thought we should keep this thread alive, even if pinned.<br /><br />They have trimmed 10 hours off the orbital period already. They are down to about a 24 hour orbit. <br /><br />Those little nudges sure add up when you aren't watching. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[kane007]

Plus the link for those interested

 

[dragon04]

It's hard being patient for October. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[kane007]

NASA's newest spacecraft at Mars has already cut the size and duration of each orbit by more than half, just 11 weeks into a 23-week process of shrinking its orbit. By other indicators, the lion's share of the job lies ahead. <br />2006/06/09 - <i>Spaceflight Now</i><br /><br />" "The orbits are getting shorter and shorter. We've finished about 80 of them so far, but we have about 400 more to go, and the pace really quickens toward the end," said Dan Johnston, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br /><br />Supplementing the daily attentions of navigators, engineers and scientists, the orbiter has begun using unprecedented onboard smarts to schedule some of its own attitude maneuvers during each orbit.<br /><br />The current phase of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, called "aerobraking," began in late March with the spacecraft in a pattern of very elongated, 35-hour orbits. It will end in early September, according to current plans, once hundreds of careful dips into Mars' atmosphere have adjusted the orbit to nearly circular, two-hour loops. Then, after some touch-up engine burns, deployment of a radar antenna and other transitional tasks, the spacecraft will be in the right orbit and configuration to start its main science phase in November.<br /><br />During the two-year science phase, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will examine Mars from subsurface layers to the top of the atmosphere. It will use its 3-meter (10-foot) diameter dish antenna to pump data Earthward at up to 10 times the pace of any previous Mars mission. Besides providing information about the history and extent of Mars' water, the orbiter will assess prospective landing sites for NASA robots launching in 2007 and 2009.<br /><br />When the spacecraft first entered orbit arou

 

[kane007]

2006/06/20 - <i>And from SpaceDaily</i><br /><br />"NASA's newest spacecraft at Mars has already cut the size and duration of each of its orbits by more than half, just 11 weeks into a 23-week process of shrinking its orbit. "The orbits are getting shorter and shorter," said Dan Johnston, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.<br /><br />"We've finished about 80 of them so far, but we have about 400 more to go, and the pace really quickens toward the end," he added.<br /><br />Supplementing the daily attentions of navigators, engineers and scientists, the orbiter has begun using unprecedented onboard smarts to schedule some of its own attitude maneuvers during each orbit.<br /><br />The current phase of the MRO mission, called aerobraking, began in late March with the spacecraft in a pattern of very elongated, 35-hour orbits. It will end in early September, according to current plans, once hundreds of careful dips into Mars' atmosphere have adjusted the orbit to nearly circular, two-hour loops.<br /><br />Then, after some touch-up engine burns, deployment of a radar antenna and other transitional tasks, the spacecraft will be in the right orbit and configuration to start its main science phase in November.<br /><br />During the two-year science phase, MRO will examine Mars from subsurface layers to the top of the atmosphere. It will use its 3-meter (10-foot) diameter dish antenna to pump data Earthward at up to 10 times the pace of any previous Mars mission.<br /><br />Along with providing information about the history and extent of Martian water, the orbiter will assess prospective landing sites for NASA robots launching in 2007 and 2009.<br /><br />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

 

[scottb50]

I think aerobraking makes a lot of sense, but Mars seems to have a lot of variables. It is hard to predict the atmospheic conditions at a certain point. <br /><br />For human missions I would think active braking into a desired orbit is the best way to go. The moon, asteroids, Comets will require that type of arrival and the alternatives at Mars are not really applicable for passengers. Maybe a combination would work, rockets to slow and aerobraking ino an elongated orbit. Rocket burns could refine the orbit in hours or days instead of weeks or months with further aerobraking. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[larper]

I have always wondered....<br /><br />Now that we have aerobraking down pretty good, is there any way we can supplement that with a gravity assist from Phobos? Combining the two might make getting into a usable orbit much quicker, which would be a big concern on a manned mission. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">is there any way we can supplement that with a gravity assist from Phobos?</font>/i><br /><br />Gravity assist braking? I like that.</i>

 

[j05h]

Mars moons wouldn't provide any measurable assist- they are very small comparatively. It's a nice idea, and works with Luna, but not Phobos. Phobos' escape velocity is only a couple 10s meters/second.<br /><br />You might, might be able to get a degree or two vector change, but even that is doubtful. Much better to just use Mars.<br /><br />josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>

 

[larper]

Thanks. I didn't know if it were possible and useful or not. Seems it is probably not. Just thinking. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[scottb50]

I wonder what effect a 2-300 ton ship would have on Phobos orbit? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[hurricane4911]

Interesting...<br /><br />With enough pencil pushing we can figure out how to throw a large mass around an NEO and coax it into earth orbit.<br /><br />

 

[JonClarke]

"I wonder what effect a 2-300 ton ship would have on Phobos orbit?"<br /><br />Phobos has a mass of 1.07×10e16 kg (more than 10 trillion tonnes), so not much. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[gunsandrockets]

"Now that we have aerobraking down pretty good, is there any way we can supplement that with a gravity assist from Phobos? Combining the two might make getting into a usable orbit much quicker, which would be a big concern on a manned mission."<br /><br />As has already been pointed out, the moons of Mars are too small for a flyby vehicle to gain a velocity advantage. On the other hand the small moon size makes orbital redezvous with and departure from those moons very easy low-energy maneuvers.<br /><br />If the Martian moons contain significant amounts of ice as suspected, then Deimos in particular stands out as an ideal refuelling location for any manned missions to Mars. Exploiting that ice could revolutionize travel to Mars.

 

[kane007]

I think they could wait the few weeks for the craft to enter its science mode before making it STICKY, again.

 

[larper]

Why doesn't the MRO page update more frequently? Their last status is still from May 10th. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>