Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Launch: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched on August 12, 2005 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Mars Orbit Insertion: Occurred on March 10, 2006.

Mission Status: Active The spacecraft continues to operate at Mars, far beyond its intended design life. Due to its critical role as a high-speed data-relay for ground missions, NASA intends to continue the mission as long as possible, at least through the late 2020s.

• Observe the present climate, particularly its atmospheric circulation and seasonal variations;

• Search for signs of water, both past and present, and understand how it altered the planet's surface;

• Map and characterize the geological forces that shaped the surface.

• Provide data relay services from ground missions back to Earth;

• Characterize the safety and feasibility of potential future landing sites and Mars rover traverses.

• The possibility of liquid water being present seasonally on present-day Mars.

• Observations of the oldest surfaces on the planet show that diverse types of watery environments existed -- some more favorable for life than others.

• Dynamic activity on today's Mars includes fresh craters, avalanches, dust storms, seasonal freezing and thawing of carbon dioxide sheets, and summertime seeps of brine.

• Water cycled as a gas between polar ice deposits and lower-latitude deposits of ice and snow, generating patterns of layering linked to cyclical changes similar to ice ages on Earth.

• Identified underground geologic structures, scanning atmospheric layers and observing the entire planet's weather daily.

• MRO relays data from robots on Mars' surface to NASA Deep Space Network antennas on Earth

• High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera - facilitate the mapping of potential landing sites, HiRISE can produce stereo pairs of images from which topography can be calculated to an accuracy of 0.25 m (9.8 in)

• Context Camera (CTX) - provide context maps for the targeted observations of HiRISE and CRISM, and is also used to mosaic large areas of Mars, monitor a number of locations for changes over time, and to acquire stereo (3D) coverage of key regions and potential future landing sites

• Mars Color Imager (MARCI) - wide-angle, relatively low-resolution camera that views the surface of Mars in five visible and two ultraviolet band - provides a weekly weather report for Mars, helps to characterize its seasonal and annual variations, and maps the presence of water vapor and ozone in its atmosphere

• Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) - a visible and near infrared (VNIR) spectrometer that is used to produce detailed maps of the surface mineralogy of Mars by identifying minerals and chemicals indicative of the past or present existence of water on the surface of Mars

• Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) - quantifies the global atmosphere's vertical variations to produce weather maps to show the basic variables of Martian weather: temperature, pressure, humidity, and dust density

• Shallow Subsurface Radar (SHARAD) - probe the internal structure of the Martian polar ice caps. It gathers planet-wide information about underground layers of ice, rock and possibly liquid water that might be accessible from the surface

• Gravity Field Investigation Package - measures variations in the Martian gravitational field through variations in the spacecraft's velocity

• Electra communications package - UHF software-defined radio (SDR) communicate with other spacecraft as they approach, land, and operate on Mars

• Optical Navigation Camera - images the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, against background stars to precisely determine MRO's orbit

MRO gets all of its electrical power from two solar panels, each of which can move independently around two axes (up-down, or left-right rotation). At Mars, each of the panels produces more than 1,000 watts of power.

MRO has two rechargeable nickel-hydrogen batteries used to power the spacecraft when it is not facing the Sun.