People have observed the bright Martian poles wax and wane for centuries, but only within the last 50 years have scientists discovered that they are mostly comprised of carbon dioxide cycling in and out of the atmosphere ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 3, 2024
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95
An international team of researchers, co-led by ETH Zurich and Imperial College London, has derived the first estimate of global meteorite impacts on Mars using seismic data. Their findings indicate that between 280 to 360 ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 28, 2024
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259
While roboticists have developed increasingly sophisticated systems over the past decades, ensuring that these systems can autonomously operate in real-world settings without mishaps often proves challenging. This is particularly ...
There are plenty of craters on Mars, especially when compared to Earth. That is primarily thanks to the lack of weathering forces and strong plate tectonics that disrupt the formations of such impacts on our home planet. ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 20, 2024
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47
On Jan. 16, 2020, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this image of two types of sand dunes on Mars: barchan and linear dunes.
Planetary Sciences
Mar 11, 2024
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6
Just about every day we here on Earth get a breathtaking picture of Mars's terrain sent back by a rover. But, the view from space can be pretty amazing, too. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) just sent back a thought-provoking ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 4, 2024
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57
The surface of Mars is hostile and unforgiving. But put a few meters of regolith between you and the Martian sky, and the place becomes a little more habitable. Cave entrances from collapsed lava tubes could be some of the ...
Space Exploration
Jan 17, 2024
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22
On Aug. 18, 2023, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured ridged lines carved onto Mars' landscape by the gradual movement of ice. While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to Mars' polar caps, these patterns appear ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 19, 2023
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36
NASA will hold off sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from Nov. 11 to 25, while Earth and the Red Planet are on opposite sides of the sun. Called Mars solar conjunction, this phenomenon happens every two years. ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 10, 2023
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The first journal article about clouds identified by participants of the Cloudspotting on Mars project has been accepted for publication and is now available online. The article, "The Cloudspotting on Mars citizen science ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 2, 2023
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13
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit.
When MRO entered orbit there were five other spacecraft in orbit of or on Mars: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Express, Mars Odyssey, and two Mars Exploration Rovers; a then record for most spacecraft operational in Mars vicinity. The $720 million USD spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin under the supervision of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was launched August 12, 2005, and attained Martian orbit on March 10, 2006. In November 2006, after five months of aerobraking, it entered its final science orbit and began its primary science phase.
MRO contains a host of scientific instruments such as cameras, spectrometers, and radar, which are used to analyze the landforms, stratigraphy, minerals, and ice of Mars. It paves the way for future spacecraft by monitoring daily weather and surface conditions, studying potential landing sites, and hosting a new telecommunications system. MRO's telecommunications system will transfer more data back to Earth than all previous interplanetary missions combined, and MRO will serve as a highly capable relay satellite for future missions.
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