Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status - August 17, 2005

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster (818) 354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Dolores Beasley (202) 358-1753
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

News Release: 2005-135 August 17, 2005

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched on Aug. 12,
has completed one of the first tasks of its seven-month
cruise to Mars, a calibration activity for the spacecraft's
Mars Color Imager instrument.

"We have transitioned from launch mode to cruise mode, and
the spacecraft continues to perform extremely well," said
Dan Johnston, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deputy mission
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The first and largest of four trajectory correction maneuvers
scheduled before the orbiter reaches Mars is planned for
Aug. 27.

For the calibration task on Aug. 15, the spacecraft slewed
about 15 degrees to scan the camera across the positions of
the Earth and Moon, then returned to the attitude it will
hold for most of the cruise. Data were properly recorded
onboard, downlinked to Earth and received by the Mars Color
Imager team at Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. Dr.
Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, principal
investigator for Mars Color Imager, said the image
data are being processed and analyzed.

This multiple-waveband camera is the widest-angle instrument
of four cameras on the orbiter, designed for imaging all of
Mars daily from an altitude of about 300 kilometers (186
miles).

Imaged at a range of more than 1 million kilometers (620,000
miles) away, the crescent Earth and Moon fill only a few
pixels and are not resolved in the image. However, this is
enough useful information to characterize the instrument's
response in its seven color bands, including two ultraviolet
channels that will be used to trace ozone in the Mars
atmosphere. This is the first of two events early in the
cruise phase that check instrument calibrations after
launching.

The second will occur in early September when higher
resolution cameras are pointed at Earth and the Moon as the
spacecraft continues its flight to Mars.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will reach Mars and enter
orbit on about March 10, 2006.

After gradually adjusting the shape of its orbit for half a
year, it will begin its primary science phase in November 2006.
The mission will examine Mars in unprecedented detail from low
orbit, returning several times more data than all previous Mars
missions combined. Scientists will use its instruments to gain a
better understanding of the history and current distribution of
Mars' water. By inspecting possible landing sites and by
providing a high-data-rate relay, it will also support future
missions that land on Mars.

More information about the mission is available online at

http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

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

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