Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Approaches Red Planet

Posted on: Feb. 26th, 2006 || Source: planetary.org | E-mail Article | Print Article

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is scheduled to arrive on time at the Red Planet in two weeks, NASA officials announced today at a press conference held at agency headquarters in Washington D.C.

“The journey from Earth to Mars takes 300 million miles. We are about 15 million miles away, so we’re 95% there and we are right on the money now heading toward our encounter with Mars on March 10,” said Jim Graf, MRO project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

MRO, which will look at the Red Planet in unprecedented detail, will join a fleet of five other “distinguished” spacecraft at the planet: three orbiters -- Mars Global Surveyor, which arrived in 1997; Mars Odyssey, which arrived in 2001; and Mars Express, which arrived in 2003, and two rovers -- Spirit and Opportunity, which landed in January 2004 and are still roving strong. MRO launched on August 12, 2005 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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