NASA - «Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter»

[Roland]

Grüezi wohl

Also gemäss NASA Website scheint der MRO schlicht das Nonplusultra aller bisherigen Sonden zu werden, sogar im Vergleich zum sicherlich nicht als Fehlkonstruktion zu bezeichnenden Mars-Express - siehe Links zu den ESA- und NASA-Websites!

Alle Instrumente / Experimente sind unter http://mars4.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/mission/sc_instru.html detailliert beschrieben.

«Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter»

Overview Summary
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled for launch in 2005, is on a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time. While other Mars missions have shown that water flowed across the surface in Mars' history, it remains a mystery whether water was ever around long enough to provide a habitat for life.

MRO will study the history of water on Mars
After a seven-month cruise to Mars and six months of aerobraking to reach its science orbit, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will seek to find out about the history of water on Mars with its science instruments. They will zoom in for extreme close-up photography of the martian surface, analyze minerals, look for subsurface water, trace how much dust and water are distributed in the atmosphere, and monitor daily global weather.
These studies will help determine if there are deposits of minerals that form in water over long periods of time, detect any shorelines of ancient seas and lakes, and analyze deposits placed in layers over time by flowing water. It will also be able to tell if the underground martian ice discovered by the Mars Odyssey orbiter is the top layer of a deep ice deposit or whether it is a shallow layer in equilibrium with the current atmosphere and its seasonal cycle of water vapor.

MRO will be able to look at small-scale features
In its survey of the red planet, Mars Reconnaissance will increase tenfold the number of spots surveyed close-up. One of the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter's cameras is the largest ever flown on a planetary mission. While previous cameras on other Mars orbiters could identify objects no smaller than a school bus, this camera will be able to spot something as small as a dinner table. That capability will also allow the orbiter to identify obstacles like large rocks that could jeopardize the safety of future landers and rovers. Its imaging spectrometer will also be able to look at small-scale areas about five times smaller than a football field, at a scale perfect for identifying any hot springs or other small water features.

MRO will be a powerful communications and navigation link
The orbiter's telecommunications systems will also establish a crucial service for future spacecraft, becoming the first link in a communications bridge back to Earth, an "interplanetary Internet" that can be used by numerous international spacecraft in coming years. Testing the use of a radio frequency called Ka-band, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter may demonstrate the potential for greater performance in communications using significantly less power.
The orbiter also carries an experimental navigation camera. If it performs well, similar cameras placed on orbiters of the future would be able to serve as high-precision interplanetary "eyes" to guide incoming landers to precise landings on Mars, opening up exciting-but otherwise dangerous-areas of the planet to exploration.
The orbiter's primary mission ends about five-and-a-half years after launch, on December 31, 2010. For details on all mission stages, see the Mission Timeline.

MRO Mission Status
The next major step in Mars Exploration is taking shape with preparation of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for launch in just seven months. >>

MRO Will "Follow the Water" on Mars
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will collect detailed data that will pave the way for future surface missions to Mars. >>

MRO Mission Status
With one very busy year remaining before launch, the team preparing NASA's next mission to Mars has begun integrating and testing the spacecraft's versatile payload. >>

Spacecraft Will Examine Mars in Greater Detail than Ever Before
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a little over a year away from its date with destiny, when it will ride atop a rocket into space, bound for the red planet. >>

If You Thought That Was a Close View of Mars, Just Wait
In 2005, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will make a more comprehensive inspection of Mars than any previous mission. >>

MRO: An Unprecedented Look at Mars

MRO: Fall 2004 Update

MRO Animation

Simulation of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deploying its High-Gain Antenna

Simulation of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deploying its Solar Panels

Quelle: NASA - http://mars4.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/

Weitere Links zum «Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter»:
- MRO: Opening The Window To A Red Planet Reconnaissance
- MRO: Ultra-sharp camera readied for next Mars orbiter
- NASA Mars Exploration Program Web Site
- ESA Aurora Programm

Möge dem "MRO" im Herbst 2005 ein guter Start, eine gute Reise und Ankunft beschieden sein!

Nur mal so zur Information und überhaupt ...

Roland

[Guido_Waldenmeier]

Danke für die Erkenntniss,die man aufgrund deiner Information am frühen Montag Morgen erfahren darf ;-)

Zitat Roland
Nur mal so zur Information und überhaupt ...
*gag on*
Ach ja wenn du gerade dabei bist wie wäre es mit den richtigen Lotto Zahlen für das kommende Wochenende*gag off*

Gruss Guido

[Roland]

Guten "Morgen"

ähem, "etwas später Sonntag abend", nach meinem "Takt"

Na, wenn denn schon einer behauptet, sich für Planeten-Missionen zu interessieren, sollten dem doch "Taten" folgen, zur Information, Diskussion "und so"

Nein, ich hoffe übrigens - meist, nebst etwas Fantasie - eher "Fakten" denn "Lottozahlen vom kommenden Wochenende" aufzuführen, hoffentlich, äh ...

Einstweilen und guten "frühen Montag morgen - so um die 12:00"

Roland

PS: Diese kleinen "stupiden Sonden-Dinger" finde ich war fasziniered, wenn dann aber noch Menschen ins Spiel kommen würden, auf'm Mars vorerst .. "Mond" hatten wir doch schon mal ...

[Guido_Waldenmeier]

klar humor ist das einzige das grenzen verschwinden lassen kann ;-)

aber zum thema

heute ist ein netter artikel bei telepolis zum thema mars besiedlung

Eine andere Welt ist möglich

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19399/1.html

[Roland]

Hallo Guido und ForumsteilnehmerInnen

Marsbesiedlung ist natürlich NOCHmals ein Thema, angeschnitten ja bereits als Thema für die "ZUKUNFT": Leider, im Ernst, hätte ich da genug Ideen, Du und andere hier ja sicherlich auch "Realistische", aber auch "utopische" ...

Den "MRO" habe ich übrigens gewählt, weil dies eben die "nächste" Mars Mission überhaupt ist - viel lieber hätte ich eine der ebenfalls interessanten geplanten Mars Missionen der ESA "vorgezogen".

Es grüsst nächtehalber, Roland