Mars Orbiter (aproaching Mars orbit)

Mars Orbiter to Provide Unprecedented Detail of Red Planet

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, now nearing its scheduled rendezvous with Mars on March 10th, could provide scientists with their most detailed look yet at the red planet.

Nasa News Release

After nearly seven months in space, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter or MRO, is approaching the most dangerous part of its mission -- achieving a low altitude orbit around Mars

On March 10, 2006 the rockets will fire to attempt to slow the orbiter down for entry into the Mars Orbit. In the past this is where Nasa has lost satillites before. A very dangerous part of the over 1 billion dollar Orbiter.

Lets all pray everything goes well so we will be able to see the high resolution images sent back to Earth. If sucessful this should answer a lot of our questions about mysteries we have seen on prevous images. Be sure to read the story at the above link for more details about the mission.

[edit on 28-2-2006 by Harry55]

Well,"I sure hope it turn's out better this time!!?"

I was very excited about the previous Mars landings and was looking forward to the aspects of being on the surface of Mars. "Great link!" by the way. Pretty indepth without all the politics,"if you know what I mean!?"LOL Seem's as if we as homosapians are boldly going where none of us has gone before ,atleast not with the latest technology. I will be sure to stay up on this story,thanks for the Heads up!!

"GReat Thread!!!"

Already Posted www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by swampcricket
Already Posted www.abovetopsecret.com...

no, all you posted was a question in which you could have gotton yourself with about 1 minute of checking the net.
This should make it easier for you...(just click the link)

MRO Instruments


I've been following this orbiter for awhile, and hope it works...since its vital for the future missions involving landers. Its the biggest satellite ever launched outside of earth orbit.
Heres a size comparison to Nasa's previous orbiters...it simply dwarfs them.

I found this interesting ABC News Story

NASA has only a 65 percent success rate in getting space probes to orbit Mars, as opposed to a more than 80 percent success rate in managing to land spacecrafts on its surface, he said.
NASA has only a 65 percent success rate in getting space probes to orbit Mars, as opposed to a more than 80 percent success rate in managing to land spacecrafts on its surface, he said.
The tricky part is getting the orbiter to slow down enough to be captured by the planet's gravity. At just 15 million miles from Mars, the orbiter has cruised for nearly 300 million miles (483 million km) since its launch on August 12, 2005.
At 21 minutes after the engine burn begins, the spacecraft will go behind Mars and be out of radio contact with Earth, and stay that way for another half hour, Graf said.

The orbiter's six scientific instruments are designed to collect more data than all previous Mars probes combined, including information on the planet's weather, color images and even radar to look about half a mile (1km) below the martian surface.

The most powerful telescope sent to another planet is on board and will be used to see the planets surface up close. Can you imagine what could be found using this.

I know if nasa only allows us to see what they want us to see this will not change much if anything. Lets hope they do look at all the sites in question and release that for all us all to be the judge. First before anything can happen they must be successful in making orbit safely.

The camera took the shot while at a distance of about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) from the Moon. The dark feature on the right is Mare Crisium. From that distance, the Moon would appear as a star-like point of light to the unaided eye. The test verified the camera's focusing capability and provided an opportunity for calibration. The spacecraft's Context Camera and Optical Navigation Camera also performed as expected during the test.

[edit on 1-3-2006 by Harry55]