[meteorite-list] Hello Mars, Meet 'MR. O': The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Jan 19 13:36:04 2005
Message-ID: <200501191827.KAA08036_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/mr_o_tech_050119.html

Hello Mars, Meet 'MR. O': The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
By Leonard David
space.com
19 January 2005

DENVER, Colo. -- The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is one giant
spacecraft, built to take unprecedented photos of the red planet.
Engineers are in test time mode here at Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
builder of the spacecraft, as the countdown ticks down for the probe's
summer launch.

Teams of technicians now swarm around the spacecraft as it enters the
final four months of system and environmental tests. The checklist calls
for the Mars-bound craft to be "out the door" of the aerospace company
in April and en route to Florida.

Sent Marsward atop an Atlas 5 booster, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
(MRO) will tip the scales at 4,796 lbs (2,180 kilograms) at liftoff.

Brimming with science instruments -- rooted to a potent chassis of
electronic, propulsion, and mechanical gear -- MRO will be the largest
spacecraft to orbit the red planet. Science gleaned from this mission is
expected to dramatically expand our knowledge of Mars.

Let's get intense

"We call it 'Mr. O'", said Jim Graf, Project Manager for MRO at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "It's an
amazing piece of hardware. The time is right for it - it just has such
capability," he told SPACE.com during a recent inspection of the
interplanetary spacecraft.

Less than two years from now, MRO is tasked to start a series of global
mapping, regional survey and targeted observations from a near-polar,
low-altitude Mars orbit. It will fly closer to the martian surface than
any other orbiter has ever gone.

MRO is equipped with six primary instruments: the High Resolution
Imaging Science Experiment, Context Camera, Mars Color Imager, Compact
Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, Mars Climate Sounder and
Shallow Radar. The orbiter will also carry a telecommunications relay
package and two engineering demonstrations.

The road to Mars for MRO has not been without difficulty.

"The development of the instruments - they are all state-of-the-art," Graf
said. "They are brand new instruments. So that has been one of the
biggest challenges."

Graf said that MRO is an unprecedented workhorse of a spacecraft. Given
its memory storage and computer smarts, as well as the probe's
telecommunications package and power capability, "it's the cornerstone
of the future Mars program," he said.

MRO carries a large set of solar arrays and a huge high gain antenna.
"It's wonderful isn't it," Graf said, pointing to the dish antenna that
measures some 10-feet (3 meters) in diameter -- hardware that will
enable the craft to pump out enormous streams of information back to
Earth from Mars orbit.

"We're going to be awash in data. There's no doubt about it," Graf
added. "Let's get intense - start an investigation of the planet in a mode
that's entirely different than anything we've done before."

Test like you fly

MRO has moved into a "robust pace" of testing, said Kevin McNeill, MRO
program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

The spacecraft has undergone an acoustic simulation of its Atlas 5 ride
into space. Solar array and high gain antenna test deployments were near
at hand. Among other key milestones, exposure of MRO to thermal and
vacuum conditions that imitate the real deal of trekking through space
to Mars was slated for next month.

"When you do the environmental testing, you want to follow the
environments that you'll see in the actual sequence of flight," McNeill
said. "You want to test like you fly."

Located just a few buildings away from where MRO is undergoing
evaluation, Lockheed Martin rocketeers are assembling and testing the
Atlas 5 launch vehicle -- designated AV-007 -- that will toss the
spacecraft onward to the red planet.

The booster will be shipped to Cape Canaveral, Florida in March with MRO
sent to the spaceport on April 29th, McNeill said, with liftoff
scheduled for August 10th as target date in a 20-day launch window.

Sure to find surprises

At Mars, MRO observations will be unmatched in terms of the spatial
resolution and coverage achieved by the orbiter's instruments.

"In the Mars exploration program, we've adopted a 'follow the water'
strategy - and our MRO mission is part of that," said JPL's Rich Zurek,
MRO project scientist. "This orbiter is very much following up on the
very recent discoveries," he said, noting the findings of the
still-going-strong Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

Zurek said MRO is booked with early work at the start of a
five-and-a-half year agenda.

For one, MRO will scope out a landing site for NASA's Phoenix lander.
That mission is to land in the northern polar region of Mars in May
2008. Once on the surface, the stationary lander is to use its robotic
arm to expose the upper few feet of surface material in a search for ice.

One of the first things on MRO's priority list is to scan possible
Phoenix lander sites for any hazards. MRO radar and sounder readings
will also be taken, with the data assembled surely to be helpful in
picking the right Phoenix landing spot. "They want to make sure it's
safe and we're going to help certify that site for them," Zurek told
SPACE.com.

Similarly, locating the Mars Science Laboratory's touchdown zone in
October 2010 is another priority, Zurek noted, with MRO able to find the
best place on Mars for the greatest scientific return from that highly
capable rover.

MRO cameras to zoom in for extreme close-up photography of the martian
surface; utilize a sounder to find subsurface water; and look for safe
and scientifically worthy landing sites for future exploration - Zurek
said that the interplanetary craft is ready for action.

"We're sure to find surprises," Zurek said. Each spacecraft that has
traveled to Mars, and each time the planet has been eyed with greater
resolution or in a new part of the electromagnetic spectrum, he added,
the red planet has conveyed a message: "No - I'm not the way you thought I
was."
Received on Wed 19 Jan 2005 01:27:24 PM PST