Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Update Thread

spacester · Aug 18, 2006

Yeah, that's frustrating. I for one am very interested in the details of the breaking orbits. {Political statement self-censored - <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> } <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

bdewoody · Aug 25, 2006

They still aren't giving out much info about whats going on. I guess maybe because there's nothing to report. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Bob DeWoody </div>

spacester · Aug 25, 2006

8 hours to End Game I think it would be cool to make this thread sticky, at least for a while, simultaneously with the start of End Game. Y'know . . . just cuz it's the geeky thing to do <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> Hopefully they'll get some info flowing soon. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

bdewoody · Aug 28, 2006

Finally a new press release on 8-25-06. Looks like all is well except for a stuck switch. I hope it doesn't create too many problems for data transmission. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Bob DeWoody </div>

kane007 · Aug 30, 2006

Mars Orbiter Successfully Makes Big Burn SpaceCom 2006/08/30 BOULDER, Colorado – Ground controllers today successfully performed a major maneuver of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MOR)—an “end game” tactic that puts the orbiting probe a step closer to studying the red planet with its entire suite of science sensors. For months, the MRO has been aerobraking—using the friction of the planet’s thin atmosphere to slow the craft. That technique saves on onboard propellant. The decision to exit aerobraking was made early today, noted James Graf, MRO Project Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The burn gets MRO out of the atmosphere, with two more maneuvers scheduled over the next two weeks before the spacecraft achieves its science-gathering orbit, he told SPACE.com. Spacecraft engineers and navigation experts exploited MRO’s Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) thrusters, said Wayne Sidney, MRO Flight Engineering Team Lead for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, the firm that designed and built the spacecraft in neighboring Denver, Colorado. Heavy lifting “I am greatly relieved that the aerobraking phase is over,” Graf explained. “All of aerobraking, but in particular the last demanding week, is dangerous and it is great to have it behind us.” Graf saluted a combined JPL and Lockheed Martin Space Systems team that “performed fabulously over the last six months as did the spacecraft.” With the heavy lifting of aerobraking behind MRO operators, he said, the spacecraft team is moving on into the transition phase events, which include the commissioning of MRO instruments. This upcoming phase has its own set of challenges for the team, Graf observed, including the deployment of the Shallow Subsurface Radar (SHARAD) antenna and the lid for the Compact Reconnaissance

kane007 · Aug 30, 2006

Cool. More news at JPL 2006/08/30 Nearly six months after it entered orbit, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has concluded its aerobraking phase. The spacecraft had been dipping in and out of the red planet's atmosphere to adjust its orbit. On August 30, 2006, during its 445th orbit, the spacecraft fired its intermediate thrusters to raise the low point of its orbit and stop dipping into the atmosphere. The six-minute engine burn began at 10:36 a.m. (PST), altering the spacecraft's course so that its periapsis (the closest it comes to the planet) is about 210 kilometers (130 miles) above the planet, well above the atmosphere. "Aerobraking has changed the course of the spacecraft from just over 35 hours per orbit to just under two hours per orbit and it has saved us roughly 600 kilograms of fuel," said Dan Johnston, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deputy Mission Manager. "Getting out of aerobraking was a phenomenal moment and everyone on the flight teams has done a fantastic job to get us where we need to be for science acquisition." The next step for the spacecraft will be two additional orbit adjustments to put the orbiter in the ideal path to begin gathering the most detailed scientific data yet from the red planet. The mission's main science observations are scheduled to begin in November, after a period of transitional deployments and tests, then three weeks of intermittent communications while Mars passes nearly behind the sun.

rybanis · Aug 31, 2006

Horray for the good news. Its amazing that they saved that much fuel! I'm looking forward to seeing the first images after they get done commissioning. That phase, I hope, will not take too long. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

kane007 · Sep 12, 2006

NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Reaches Planned Flight Path SpaceDaily 2006/09/13 NASA's newest spacecraft at Mars has completed the challenging half-year task of shaping its orbit to the nearly circular, low-altitude pattern from which it will scrutinize the planet. 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, Pasadena, Calif. "Getting to this point is a great achievement." Challenging activities remain ahead this month, such as deploying an antenna 10 meters (33 feet) long and removing a lens cap from a crucial instrument. The main science investigations will begin in November. During its two-year science phase, the mission will return more data about Mars than all previous Mars missions combined. The flight team for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter sent the bus-sized spacecraft through the upper fringe of Mars' atmosphere 426 times between early April and Aug. 30. This "aerobraking" technique used friction with the Martian atmosphere to gradually decrease the highest-altitude point of the elliptical orbit from 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) to 486 kilometers (302 miles). The lowest-altitude point during aerobraking ranged from 98 to 105 kilometers (61 to 65 miles). It was carefully managed with input from researchers at JPL; Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver; NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and elsewhere, based on spacecraft data and atmos

kane007 · Sep 12, 2006

And from Yahoo 2006/09/13 PASADENA, Calif. - The most powerful spacecraft ever sent to Mars has settled into a nearly circular orbit, a move that allows scientists to begin studying the planet in unprecedented detail, NASA said Tuesday. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter fired its thrusters for 12 minutes Monday to adjust to its final position six months after it arrived at the planet. Its altitude ranges between 155 to 196 miles above the surface. "Getting to this point is a great achievement," said Dan Johnston, deputy mission manager at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $720 million mission. Over the next several months, the orbiter will deploy its 33-foot antenna and remove a lens cap from one of its instruments. It will begin collecting data in November, and scientists expect the resolution of those images to be nine times higher. The unmanned orbiter safely slipped into orbit around Mars in March after a seven-month, 310 million-mile journey. It joined three other spacecraft currently flying around the planet and two rovers rolling across the surface. Several weeks after entering orbit, a high-resolution camera aboard the spacecraft beamed back a test image showing the planet's southern highlands and cratered surface. The orbiter spent the last half-year repeatedly dipping in to the upper atmosphere to shrink its orbit in a tricky process known as aerobraking.

kane007 · Sep 12, 2006

And JPL/Nasa's own site 2006/09/12 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Reaches Planned Flight Path Full Res Image NASA's newest spacecraft at Mars has completed the challenging half-year task of shaping its orbit to the nearly circular, low-altitude pattern from which it will scrutinize the planet. 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, Pasadena, Calif. "Getting to this point is a great achievement." Challenging activities remain ahead this month, such as deploying an antenna 10 meters (33 feet) long and removing a lens cap from a crucial instrument. The main science investigations will begin in November. During its two-year science phase, the mission will return more data about Mars than all previous Mars missions combined. The flight team for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter sent the bus-sized spacecraft through the upper fringe of Mars' atmosphere 426 times between early April and Aug. 30. This "aerobraking" technique used friction with the Martian atmosphere to gradually decrease the highest-altitude point of the elliptical orbit from 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) to 486 kilometers (302 miles). The lowest-altitude point during aerobraking ranged from 98 to 105 kilometers (61 to 65 miles). It was carefully managed with input from researchers at JPL; Lockheed Martin Space Systems, D

3488 · Sep 13, 2006

Shame that MRO was never used to obtain decent images of Phobos & Deimos, whilst she was still in the highly eliptical orbit, shortly after arrival. Lets hope we get good close ups of the central calderas of the volcanoes!! Looking for cinder cones, young lava flows, wisps, etc, if they exist!!!!! Super high resos of the polar caps should throw up a few surprises too, in anticipation of the upcoming Mars Phoenix Lander. Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

kane007 · Sep 13, 2006

"Shame that MRO was never used to obtain decent images of Phobos & Deimos, whilst she was still in the highly eliptical orbit, shortly after arrival. " I believe they had to keep the lens cap on while they aerobraked, to protect them.

CalliArcale · Sep 14, 2006

Bumping this thread; I've just found out that MRO has reached its mapping orbit. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> The news is slightly belated, but I just hadn't been paying attention. MRO Reaches Planned Flight Path <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

telfrow · Sep 20, 2006

Ground-Piercing Radar on NASA Mars Orbiter Ready for Work September 19, 2006 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has extended the long-armed antenna of its radar, preparing the instrument to begin probing for underground layers of Mars. The orbiter's Shallow Subsurface Radar, provided by the Italian Space Agency, will search to depths of about one kilometer (six-tenths of a mile) to find and map layers of ice, rock and, if present, liquid water. The radar's antenna had remained safely folded and tucked away throughout the flight to Mars from Aug. 12, 2005, to March 10, 2006, and while the orbiter used the friction of dipping into the top of Mars' atmosphere 426 times in the past six months to shrink the size of its orbit. Latches on the restraints were popped open on Sept. 16, and the spring-loaded twin arms of the antenna unfolded themselves. Subsequent information from the spacecraft indicates that each arm properly extended to its 5 meter (16.4 feet) length. "The deployment of the antenna has succeeded. It went exactly as planned," said Dr. Enrico Flamini, the Italian Space Agency's program manager for the Shallow Subsurface Radar. "Now the excitement builds about what the radar will find hiding beneath the surface of Mars." Link <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

radarredux · Sep 20, 2006

Whatever happened to the ground penetrating radar work from ESA at Mars? There was lots of expectation; I saw one sythesized image of (I believe) a crater; and then nothing.

telfrow · Sep 26, 2006

HiRISE Camera Will Take First Close-Up Pictures of Mars Sept. 29 The most powerful camera ever to orbit Mars will get its first close look at the Red Planet on Friday. The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera flying aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will relay its first low-altitude images to scientists at The University of Arizona beginning Sept. 29. "It's exciting because it's the first time we'll see Mars while the spacecraft is orbiting at about 300 kilometers (roughly 190 miles) above the planet's surface," HiRISE principal investigator and UA Professor Alfred S. McEwen said. The HiRISE camera is the most powerful telescopic camera ever sent to another planet. The camera took its first impressive test images of Mars when it was as far as 2,500 kilometers (roughly 1,600 miles) away from the planet last March, just before MRO began "aerobraking." Aerobraking involved sending the bus-sized spacecraft through Mars' upper atmosphere 426 times between early April and Aug. 30. The technique successfully lowered MRO close to its final science orbit. This maneuver would have required an extra 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of fuel if thrusters had been used. The spacecraft fired six thrusters to reach final science orbit on Sept. 11. The orbit crosses near Mars' north and south poles at altitudes ranging from 250 kilometers (155 miles) to 316 kilometers (196 miles) above the surface. The HiRISE team has been working at top speed to prepare for the low-orbit images they'll get between Sept. 29 and Oct. 6. "What makes these next test images exciting for our team is that this time, our effective resolution (sharpness) will be 10 times better," said HiRISE Operations Center (HiROC) manager Eric Eliason. "We're going to see some tremendous detail." The Sept. 29 - Oct. 6 observing opportunity will be the first time that MRO will use the onboard targeting algorit <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

kane007 · Sep 27, 2006

More from that article on the upcoming HiRISE imaging in 2 days. Spaceflight Now 2006/09/26 ... continue from telfrow's post. The NASA Scout-class Phoenix Mission is an international lander mission led by UA's Peter Smith. It is slated for launch in August 2007 for a May 2008 touchdown in Mars' north polar region. "HiRISE's best chance for photographing candidate Phoenix mission landing sites is in October and November because the sun is getting lower as northern Mars moves into fall," McEwen said. Fogs and hazes will likely degrade viewing by early 2007, he added. Other imaging targets include about 40 other locations which sample a wide variety of landscapes. The HiRISE team plans to get its first image on Sept. 29 of Ius Chasma, a complex floor that is part of Valles Marineris, a giant canyon system far larger than Arizona's Grand Canyon. Engineers will turn off the HiRISE camera for a solar conjunction that starts the second week of October. Solar conjunction is when the sun is aligned between Earth and Mars. It will obstruct communications with the spacecraft for about three weeks. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched August 12, 2005, will provide more science data than all previous Mars missions combined. Among its many objectives is a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time. Other Mars missions have shown that water flowed across the surface in Mars' history. But whether water was ever around long enough to provide a habitat for life remains a mystery. The HiRISE team uses ISIS-3 software developed and maintained by the U.S.G.S.-Flagstaff for processing its images at HiROC. HiROC is located in the C. P. Sonett Space Sciences Building, 1541 E. University Blvd, on the UA campus. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California

kane007 · Sep 30, 2006

Newest HiRISE image, atlast.

kane007 · Oct 1, 2006

APL-Built Mineral-Mapping Imager Begins Mission at Mars With Cover Removed, CRISM Set to Take First Images The most powerful mineral-mapper ever sent to Mars has opened its protective cover and is about to begin its search for hints of past water on the red planet. The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., is one of six science instruments aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. CRISM’s spring-loaded cover had been closed since the orbiter’s launch in August 2005, protecting the imager’s sensitive telescope optics from fuel residue and heat as the spacecraft eased into orbit around Mars. Today, a day after turning on CRISM’s power and putting the device through a series of performance tests, operators opened the cover and verified that it had deployed properly. “Everything went smoothly and our team is looking forward to our first images later this week,” says Dr. Scott Murchie, CRISM principal investigator from the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). CRISM will look for areas that were wet long enough to leave a mineral signature on the surface, searching for the spectral traces of aqueous and hydrothermal deposits, and mapping the geology, composition, and stratigraphy of surface features. The imager will map areas on the martian surface as small as 60 feet (about 18 meters) across, with the orbiter at its average altitude of about 190 miles (300 kilometers). Offering greater capability to map spectral variations than any similar instrument sent to another planet, CRISM will read 544 “colors” in reflected sunlight to detect minerals in the surface. Its highest resolution is about 20 times sharper than any previous look at Mars in near-infrared wavelengths. By identifying sites most likely to have contained water, CRISM data will help determine the best potential landing sites for future Mars miss

telfrow · Oct 3, 2006

Ten new HiRISE images are available here. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Oct 3, 2006

Fault In Ius Chasma The sharpness and quality of HiRISE images allows geologists to work out the detailed geometry and sequence of events that have shaped the landscape. For example, this area shows exposures of light- and dark-toned layers of rock that have been faulted and folded. These rocks formed out of sedimentary deposits that originally accumulated in thick horizontal sequences, like a layer cake. These layers have since been tilted on-end and eroded, exposing the sequence of layers that we now see at the surface. A prominent dark layer extends through the center of the scene from the upper right to the lower left of the image. This dark layer is discontinuous and offset along a fault. The thin grey zone that extends from the upper left to the lower right of the image delineates the fault plane. This fault was originally a thrust, or compressional fault, that formed prior to the aforementioned tilting event. Tilting of this fault and the surrounding rock reveals a series of drag folds adjacent to the fault plane. These drag folds formed as the layered rock bent in response to friction along the fault plane as the thrust fault formed, prior to the tilting event. This fault offsets the dark layer by a maximum of 70-75 m. Smaller secondary folds and faults are also visible in this scene. The smallest resolved fault offset of an individual rock layer is 1-1.5 m. Also visible in this image are numerous small 4-10-m-diameter impact craters that are surrounded by ejecta of meter-scale boulders. Link <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

claerwen · Oct 4, 2006

"Whatever happened to the ground penetrating radar work from ESA at Mars? There was lots of expectation; I saw one sythesized image of (I believe) a crater; and then nothing. " I've been wondering the same thing for months. Every once in a while I look around for results from the MARSIS instrument and find nothing. I can only conclude that it has failed to work properly or the Europeans are being, well...European. Their tendency to not share data in a timely manner has always struck me as insecure. I'd love to see if they found anything -- or didn't, that's a meaningful result also.

telfrow · Oct 4, 2006

September 19 Update: SHARAD <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

brellis · Oct 4, 2006

I had the same experience following the progress of SMART-1. That mission was literally a "smashing" success - they should have been braying about it like a bunch of donkeys in heat. They released one or two pics near the end of the mission, but they are apparently holding images from the public in order to allow their scientists first dibs at analysis. Of course, I might be a complete idiot and I misunderstood the image-capturing capabilities of the craft. Perhaps both are true <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better. </div>

telfrow · Oct 6, 2006

Eleven new HiRISE images have been posted. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

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