Feb 28, 2006
Mars’s ship has come in.
Space.com reports that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) arrives March 10th!
You can imagine how freakin excited I am. From the article:
MRO totes powerful instruments that can investigate every level of Mars: From underground layers to the top of the planet’s atmosphere.For one, the Mars-bound spacecraft is hauling the most powerful telescopic camera ever sent outward to scan another planet. That gear can spot rocks the size of a small desk.
MRO will chart water-related deposits in areas as small as a baseball infield. The Italian space agency supplied the mission with a radar designed to probe for buried ice and water.
Also, a weather camera will monitor the entire planet daily, while an infrared sounder is assigned the duty to gauge atmospheric temperatures and the movement of water vapor.
JPL’s Graf said that MRO will return more data than all previous Mars missions combined.