[meteorite-list] MRO Preparing for 2016 InSight Mars Arrival

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2015 12:27:00 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201507291927.t6TJR06g013880_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4670

NASA Mars Orbiter Preparing for Mars Lander's 2016 Arrival
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
July 28, 2015

Fast Facts:

* Since 2006, MRO has supported missions to the surface of Mars, in addition
to conducting its own science observations

* In 2016, MRO will be listening for transmissions from NASA's next Mars
lander, InSight, as it descends and touches down

* An MRO maneuver planned for this week is designed to put it at the right
place over Mars for InSight's landingRE

With its biggest orbit maneuver since 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter (MRO) will prepare this week for the arrival of NASA's next Mars
lander, InSight, next year.

A planned 77-second firing of six intermediate-size thrusters on July
29 will adjust the orbit timing of the veteran spacecraft so it will be
in position to receive radio transmissions from InSight as the newcomer
descends through the Martian atmosphere and touches down on Sept. 28,
2016. These six rocket engines, which were used for trajectory corrections
during the spacecraft's flight from Earth to Mars, can each produce about
22 newtons, or five pounds, of thrust.

"Without making this orbit change maneuver, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
would be unable to hear from InSight during the landing, but this will
put us in the right place at the right time," said MRO Project Manager
Dan Johnston of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

The orbiter will record InSight's transmissions for later playback to
Earth as a record of each event during the critical minutes of InSight's
arrival at Mars, just as MRO did for the landings of NASA's Curiosity
Mars rover three years ago, and NASA's Phoenix Mars lander in 2008.

InSight will examine the deep interior of Mars for clues about the formation
and early evolution of all rocky planets, including Earth.

MRO will continue its studies of Mars while preparing for the InSight
arrival. MRO collects high-resolution imaging and spectral data, as well
as atmospheric and sub-surface profiles. It has returned several times
more data about the Red Planet than all other deep-space missions combined.
It will also continue providing communication relay support for Mars rovers
and making observations for analysis of candidate landing sites for future
missions.

After the InSight landing, plans call for MRO to perform a pair of even
larger maneuvers in October 2016 and April 2017 -- each using the six
intermediate-size thrusters longer than three minutes. These will return
it to the orbit timing it has used since 2006, crossing the equator at
about 3 a.m. and 3 p.m., local solar time, during each near-polar loop
around the planet. To observe the InSight arrival, MRO will be in an orbit
that crosses the equator at about 2:30 p.m. local solar mean time.

The last time the mission performed a maneuver larger than this week's
was on November 15, 2006. That maneuver fired the intermediate-size thrusters
for 76 seconds to establish the original 3 p.m. Local Mean Solar Time
(LMST) sun-synchronous condition after a six-month period of using dips
into the upper atmosphere to alter the orbit's shape. The spacecraft has
three sets of thrusters. It used its most powerful set -- six thrusters,
each with 170 newtons, or 39 pounds of force -- for about 27 minutes to
first enter orbit when it arrived at Mars on March 10, 2006. It uses eight
smaller thrusters most frequently, for small adjustments to course or
orientation.

Even after the planned 2017 maneuver, the spacecraft's remaining supply
of hydrazine propellant is projected to be more than 413 pounds (about
187 kilograms), equivalent to about 19 years of consumption in normal
operations.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the MRO Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the orbiter and supports
its operations. For more information about MRO, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mro

http://mars.nasa.gov/mro


Media Contact

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

2015-249
Received on Wed 29 Jul 2015 03:27:00 PM PDT