The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - More Than Just A Pretty Robot - Page 3

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will be a powerful mission, returning 34
Terabits of vital data that will increase our knowledge of the red planet.

To get information from its instruments to Earth, the orbiter carries the biggest antenna ever sent to Mars and a transmitter powered by large solar panels. "It can send 10 times as much data per minute as any previous Mars spacecraft," said JPL's James Graf, project manager. "This increased return multiplies the value of the instruments by permitting increased coverage of the surface at higher resolution than ever before. The same telecommunications gear will be used to relay critical science data to Earth from landers."

To loft so big a spacecraft, weighing more than two tons fully fueled, NASA will use a powerful Atlas V launch vehicle for the first time on an interplanetary mission. The Atlas V Launch Vehicle is a product of International Launch Services. ILS partners Lockheed Martin and Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center have provided commercial launch vehicles for ten years. The first Atlas Rockets were launched in 1957.

The structurally stable center booster stage can be enhanced by
the addition of between one and five strap-on solid rocket boosters.

Since the launch of the first Atlas launch vehicle in 1957, 587 flights have occurred with a solid success rate
that has made Atlas one of the premier launch systems in the world and the workhorse of the U.S. space program.

The mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft.

Click to learn more about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Article Author: Bennett Dawson

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