Latest Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Stories

By Gina Keating LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Friday returned the first test images from its super high-resolution cameras, the most powerful photographic equipment to be trained on the Red Planet in NASA's search for water and life. The black-and-white photos, taken by three cameras, show deep channels and layered surface debris around the planet's midsection, features that probably were formed by water, said Alfred McEwen, a mission scientist and...

JPL -- The first test images of Mars from NASA's newest spacecraft provide a tantalizing preview of what the orbiter will reveal when its main science mission begins next fall. Three cameras on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter were pointed at Mars at 8:36 p.m. PST Thursday, while the spacecraft collected 40 minutes of engineering test data. The cameras are the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, the Context Camera and the Mars Color Imager. "These high-resolution images of Mars...

By Irene KlotzHOUSTON (Reuters) - To learn if Mars ever supported life, researchers should look underground, a scientist presenting results of the Mars Express mission said at a conference this week.The European Space Agency's orbiter has mapped almost the entire planet for minerals that bear chemical fingerprints of past encounters with water.Less than 1 percent of the planet's surface bears signs of hydrated minerals, said Jean-Pierre Bibring, the lead investigator for the Mars Express...

JPL -- A new view of the biggest canyon in the solar system, merging hundreds of photos from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, offers scientists and the public an online resource for exploring the entire canyon in detail. This canyon system on Mars, named Valles Marineris, stretches as far as the distance from California to New York. Steep walls nearly as high as Mount Everest give way to numerous side canyons, possibly carved by water. In places, walls have shed massive landslides spilling far...

By Dan WhitcombPASADENA, California (Reuters) - A $450 million NASA spacecraft dropped smoothly into orbit around Mars on Friday, successfully completing a risky make-or-break maneuver in its two-year mission to search the red planet for life and find landing spots for future astronauts.Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in cheers when the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which left Earth in August, signaled that it had achieved orbit around a planet that...

By Dan Whitcomb PASADENA, California (Reuters) - A $450 million NASA spacecraft achieved orbit around Mars on Friday, successfully completing a make-or-break maneuver in its two-year mission to scour the red planet for evidence of life and landing spots for future astronauts. Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in loud cheers when the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter signaled it had dropped into a perfect orbit around a planet that has defeated most...

LOS ANGELES - A NASA spacecraft successfully slipped into orbit around Mars Friday, joining a trio of orbiters already circling the Red Planet.Scientists cheered after the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter emerged from the planet's shadow and signaled to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that the maneuver was a success."Oh I am very relieved," project manager Jim Graf said minutes later. "It was picture perfect."The two-ton spacecraft is the most sophisticated ever to arrive at...

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A NASA craft carrying a $40 million camera created by University of Arizona scientists is set to orbit Mars on Friday.The camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is one of six instruments on the craft designed to examine Mars in unprecedented detail from low orbit. The mission is expected to gather more information than all previous Mars probes combined.The UA camera is a 145-pound device with a 20-inch primary mirror that will take ultra-sharp photographs of...

WUSTL -- Two Mars orbiter missions - one from NASA, the other from the European Space Agency (ESA) - will open new vistas in the exploration of Mars through the use of sophisticated ground-penetrating radars, providing international researchers with the first direct clues about the Red Planet's subsurface structure. Roger Phillips, Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, is participating in both the Mars Express (ESA) and...

NASA -- Mars plays a mean defense. The red warrior has overwhelmed nearly two-thirds of all international spacecraft that have sought its mysteries. For NASA's latest encounter with Earth's testy neighbor, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team will be going into battle armored with discipline, training and experience. Until Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is safely in its final science orbit, it is largely an engineering game. Like any good squad, the engineering team practices before the...