Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission - Essay Example

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PROPOSAL Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is simply acknowledged as MRO, is typically viewed as a versatile spacecraftthat has been mainly designed with the aim of conducting reconnaissance along with Mars exploration from orbit. It is worth mentioning that this particular spacecraft of NASA was blasted in the year 2005 with the aim of seeking evidences regarding the persistence of water on Mars surface for longer time period. The reports of other Mars missions revealed that water flowed throughout Mars surface, which left over a mystery concerning whether water is present on Mars surface for longer duration of time. In this particular essay, the mission, roles along with the responsibilities of MRO would be discussed in order to determine the effectiveness of the activities performed by MRO. Moreover, the instruments through which MRO has been assisted in order to seek evidences regarding the persistence of water on Mars surface for several years would also be discussed in the essay. In addition, the discoveries and related snapshots would also be depicted in the essay. While determining the mission, roles along with responsibilities and the scope of MRO, it can be apparently observed that the aspect of MRO comprises certain effective scientific instruments for the purpose of analyzing the stratigraphy, landforms, ice and minerals present in Mars. In this similar concern, the instruments can be observed as radars, cameras, sensors and spectrometers among others. Specially mentioning, the above discussed instruments assist future spacecraft in terms of scrutinizing the prevailing surface as well as weather conditions in Mars. Moreover, the instruments aid in studying effectively the prospective landing sites and most importantly hosting an innovative telecommunications system. Notably, MRO is regarded as a mission, which has been designed by NASA in order to analyze the atmosphere, weather and geology prevailing in Mars. The studies conducted by MRO reveal the identification of the deposits of minerals that had formed specifically in water in Mars over longer period of time and the evidences of shorelines of prehistoric lakes and seas. Moreover, the studies of MRO indicated the amount of deposits in layers that took place due to flow of water in Mars. After acquiring a brief idea about the studies conducted by MRO and its focus upon seeking evidences concerning the prevalence of water in Mars, it can be affirmed that it might attract the viewers or the individuals towards acquiring a brief idea about the above discussed historical subject matter. After deriving the mission and the roles along with the responsibilities of MRO, a detailed description about the instruments and discoveries as well as related photographs linked with MRO mission would also be discussed in the final section of the essay. It would be vital to mention in this similar context that the MRO mission, roles as well as its responsibilities would eventually provide a brief idea about the viability of MRO mission and its practical applications in the respective field. Prior to analyzing the above discussed aspects, a brief introduction of MRO would be discussed in the initial part of the essay. 1. INTRODUCTION Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is fundamentally regarded as one of the most influential navigation along with communications tools, which delivers effective services for future spacecraft. It can be apparently observed that MRO arrived in the year 2006, seeking for evidences regarding the presence of water in Mars for longer time period. This imperative aspect of MRO eventually made it one of the key constituents in ‘Mars Exploration Program’ of NASA. It is strongly believed that MRO contributes in developing NASA’s ‘Mars Exploration Program’ through obtaining a greater understanding about the climate prevailing in Mars and delivering comprehensive images of upcoming landing sites. MRO took the assistance of certain quality along with effectual science based instruments such as HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment), MARCI (Mars Color Imager) and CTX (Context Camera) among others in order to acquire a brief idea about certain significant aspects that prevail in Mars. These aspects fundamentally entail Martian surface, minerals deposited in Mars, existence of any subsurface water, distribution of dust along with water in atmosphere and the weather conditions. It is worth mentioning that MRO is duly considered to be one of the most persuasive navigation along with communication tools, as it broadly uses radio frequency named as ‘Kaband’ for showing greater communications towards determining the facts that are prevalent within Mars. The major facets of MRO can be apparently recognized as exceptional return capability and excellent data collection tool. Moreover, the other facets of MRO include greater speed along with connectivity and exhibition of quality images among others (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). 2. MISSION OVERVIEW In order to determine the mission of MRO, it would be vital to mention that MRO had been launched in the year 2005 and most vitally inserted in the year 2006 into the orbit of Mars. It is worth mentioning that the fundamental objectives of MRO mission include characterizing seasonal transformations in water content of the surface materials and dust along with ice aerosols and recovering science based information, which had been lost due to the failure of Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO). The other major aims of MRO mission encompass searching evidences regarding the execution of aqueous and/or hydrothermal activities and characterizing the stratigraphy, geology along with the composition of surface deposits. Apart from these primary objectives, the secondary targets of MRO mission can be apparently identified as delivering relevant information or data based upon the subject matter of atmosphere complementary to the reflowing MCO investigation procedures and recognizing potential sites that possess high-science capabilities for conducting future investigation (American Astronautical Society, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Design Approach for High-Resolution Surface Imaging”). As earlier mentioned, MRO has mainly laid utmost focus upon seeking evidences regarding the prevalence of water in the surface of Mars orbit. It can be affirmed in this similar concern that the aforementioned aspect forms a major mission statement of MRO. In order to conduct this mission and complete it successfully, MRO performs certain significant activities. The major activities include characterizing along with mapping comprehensively the prevailing geologic as well as stratigraphy structure, fully understanding the composition concerning the surface facets at Mars and delivering high-resolution based imaginaries for supporting the selection of forthcoming landing sites. Specially mentioning, in order to fulfill the above discussed objectives (primary and secondary) and fulfill the MRO mission, certain significant steps have been taken by this versatile spacecraft i.e. MRO. Correspondingly, the steps comprise detecting the existence of liquid water in Mars, determining the ground ice distribution procedure in the upper Mars surface and strengthening navigation and/or telecom capabilities to assist upcoming lander missions and Mars orbiter (American Astronautical Society, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Design Approach for High-Resolution Surface Imaging”). The different phases of the MRO mission can be better understood with the help of the following snapshot. Source: (NASA, “Mission”). 3. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Based on the above discusion, it can be affirmed from a broader understanding that MRO took certain significant steps or performed effective services with the intention of fulfiling the above discussed objectives and succeesfully conducting the MRO mission. Certain roles along with responsbilities of various aspects related with MRO mission can be aparently observed to play a decisve role in conducting reconnaissance along with Mars exploration from orbit effectively. In this similar context, the roles along with the responsbilities can be better understood from certain imperative aspects associated with MRO mission that comprise MRO Project, Planetray Data System, National Space Sceince Data Center and MRO science based operations (American Astronautical Society, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Design Approach for High-Resolution Surface Imaging”). These facets have been described in detail in the following section. 3.1 MRO Project. One of the major roles of the MRO Project lay in generating as well as validating the conditions like weather and deposit of minerals in the surface area of Mars orbit. This particular role would certainly assist the team leaders and also the principal investigators to smoothly conduct the MRO mission and fulifill the aforesaid objectives in an effective manner. It would be vital to mention in this similar concern that the team leaders and the principal investigators would be able to gather relevant and adequate evidences about the persistence of water in Mars surface through efficient utilization of scientific based instruments. 3.2 Planetary Data System. The prime role as well as the responsibility of Planetary Data System (PDS) can be apparently viewed as acting like a point of contact and enusring that the MRO mission is aligned with PDS related formats and standards (American Astronautical Society, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Design Approach for High-Resolution Surface Imaging”). 3.3 National Space Science Data Center. This particular aspect relating to the MRO mission plays a decisive role in long-term preserving and most vitally filing huge delivery orders relating to the conditions that prevail in the upper surface area of Mars orbit (American Astronautical Society, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Design Approach for High-Resolution Surface Imaging”). 3.4 MRO Science Based Operations. The prime role as well as responsbility played by MRO science based operations is to effectively utilize the scientfic instruments and assist the MRO mission to attain success in terms of gathering relevant along with adequate evidences about the prevalence of water in Mars surface (American Astronautical Society, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Design Approach for High-Resolution Surface Imaging”). 4. INSTRUMENT The MRO launched by NASA has an elevation of 6.5 meters and it is capped by a 3 meter radio antenna dish. The width of MRO is around 13.6 meters from the bottom of one solar panel to the tip of the other. The solar panel consists of 20 square meters (220 square feet) of solar cells. The MRO weighed around 2,180 kilograms during its launch with fuel weighing 20 onboard thrusters that made half of the total mass of the spacecraft. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. In order to store a large volume of data, MRO contained s 160 gigabits of solid-state memory along with a processor that would be operating at a speed of 46 million instructions per second (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). The spacecraft carried more sophisticated and advance instruments for investigating the planet relative to various portions of the electromagnetic spectrum from ultraviolet to radio waves. The instrument used in MRO mission facilitates in acquiring significant knowledge regarding the Martian surface, atmosphere and temperature (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). Correspondingly, the details of instrument carried and used in the MRO mission are described below: 4.1 HiRISE (Camera). The High Resolution Science Experiment camera is 0.5m reflecting telescope carried by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and it is the biggest camera carried on a space mission. It has the resolution of 1 microradian or 0.3 m from an elevation of 300 km. Besides, it takes images in three color bands including 400-600 nm, (B-G), 550 to 850nm (Red) and 800 to 1000 nm (Infrared). As on December 2008, HiRISE on the (MRO) captured 8 terapixels of data in 9137 images. The HiRISE instrument has performed exceptionally well in all avenues. The images captured from the HiRISE were 5 to 6 km wide. The camera was built by Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Instruments”; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). 4.2 CTX (Camera). The Context Camera (CTX) is the payload instrument that has been associated with the NASA’s MRO mission and was built by Malin Space Science Systems. Since 2006, it has been capturing high-resolution monochromatic images of Mars. It captures 30 km wide and 6 m/pixel images. The images acquired through CTX are extensively used for the photogeologic studies. CTX uses 350 mm focal length catadioptric telescope. The images of Mars captured by CTX significantly assisted in plotting the extent and continuity of specific layers (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Instruments”; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). 4.3 MARCI (Camera). The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) is a wide angle seven color framing camera and is one of the major payload instruments on MRO mission which was supplied Malin Space Science Systems. It is designed for acquiring daily synoptic. It was predominately responsible for acquiring low resolution images of Mars with the purpose of studying evolution of weather changes on the planet and also to observe surface features the camera functions in five visible along with two ultraviolet (UV) bands (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Instruments”; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). 4.4 CRISM (Spectrometer). The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) is another major instrument used in MRO mission which was provided by Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. The purpose this instrument was to investigate Martian surface and atmosphere. It was expected that this instrument will provide high spatial and spectral resolutions and extended wave length images. The instrument accompanied two major subassemblies including the Optical Sensor Unit (OSU) and the Data Processing Unit (DPU). The OSU included visible and infrared imaging spectrograph (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Instruments”; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). 4.5 MCS (Spectrometer). The Mars Climate Sounder is a spectrometer that was an important instrument carried by MRO. It was developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It consisted of one visible and eight infrared channels. The purpose of these channels was to provide a broad picture regarding the Mars atmospheric condition and measure pressure, water vapor, temperature and dust level in Mars. MCS investigated the Martian atmosphere on its horizon by splitting it into vertical portions. The instrument captured the measurement within the each portion at a range of 5 km. The MCS (Mars Climate Sounder) facilitated in understanding the variation in the Mars weather and climatic condition (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Instruments”; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). 4.6 SHARAD (Radar). SHARAD (radar) is another vital instrument that was used in the MRO mission for detecting the subsurface including underground layers of ice and rock of Mars. The instrument was supplied by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). It has horizontal resolution that range between 0.3 and 3 kilometers under the Mars crust and the vertical resolution of 15 meters in the open space (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Instruments”; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”). 4.7 Engineering Instrument. Apart from imaging instrument, various other engineering instruments were made use of in the MRO mission. In this regard, MRO carried Electra UHF communications and navigation package, optical navigation camera, Ka band telecommunication experiment package in order to aid in spacecraft navigation and communication as well as gravity field investigation package and atmospheric structure investigation accelerometers for acquiring engineering data. Correspondingly, Electra facilitated in establishing communication between Earth and the landed space cart on Mars. Optical Camera carried by MRO was tested in order to measure capability of future space mission. Ka-band was also used in the MRO mission in order to examine the use of a radio frequency to improve communication. The gravity field investigation package facilitates in tracing density of Mars atmosphere along with determining changes in seasons. Similarly, Accelerometers, assisted in deriving valuable insights regarding the effects of winds and effects of storm relative to Mars atmosphere (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Instruments”). 5. DISCOVERIES AND PHOTOGRAPHS 5.1 Ice Exposed In New Craters. The evidence accumulated from the MRO mission postulated that non-polar slices of Mars have undergone radical periods of glaciation during the Amazonian Period. Images from the CTX camera confirmed regarding the tropical mountain glacial deposits, concentric crater fill and concentric crater fill which propagated that ice thicknesses exceeded more than a kilometer in many places of Mars. The ice on the surface of Mars was found in the five different locations (Dickson, Head, and Fassett, 723-732). 5.2 Chloride Deposits. Scientists through the analysis of the data obtained from the MRO mission, Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), have found widespread deposits of chloride minerals on Mars surface. Based on the evidences, it has been propagated that the deposits of chloride minerals on Mars surface were probably formed due to the evaporation of the mineral enriched waters. The research based on Mars postulated that lakes on Mars surface might have been spread over large areas of the Martian surface (Glotch, Bandfield and Arnold, 1-2). 5.3 Aqueous Minerals. Liquid water is one of the most important elements for the existence of life on earth. In this regard, the CRISM team associated with MRO mission has reported the presence of 9 to 10 distinct category of minerals on Mars surface which is advocated to form in the presence of water. Although the existence of liquid water on the surface of Mars has been denied but the presence of aqueous minerals is considered by the team as an evident of presence of water on Martian surface in the past. The aqueous minerals presence in the Martian surface were identified as Fe-(oxyhyr) oxides, phyllosilicates, hydrated sulfates, hydrated silica, carbonates and zeolites. Moreover, the data obtained from TES, OMEGA and CRISM verifying the minerals bearing phyllosilicate is considered by the researchers and scientists as strong evidence validating the existence of water on Martian surface (Gainey, Hausrath, Hurowitz and Tschauner, 1-2). 6. CONCLUSION A multipurpose spacecraft also known as Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched by NASA on August 12, 2005 in order to acquired valuable knowledge and understanding regarding the Mars through detailed investigation and observation. In addition, the MRO mission was also focused towards examining probable landing sites in order to execute future surface mission. The primary mission behind executing the MRO was to capture high resolution images in order to map the landscape of Mars. Thus, MRO carried most effective telescopic cameras that have ever flown to space and other science and engineering instruments. The instruments that were carried by MRO spacecraft included High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, Context Camera, Mars Climate Sounder, Mars Color Imager and SHARAD (radar). These instruments revealed some of the astonishing facts regarding the Martian surface. The evidences gathered from the MRO mission provided an understanding regarding presence of ice on the surface of Mars. The data obtained from this mission also demonstrated chloride deposits which have been recognized to form due to the evaporation of mineral enrich water. In addition, the presence of aqueous minerals was also reported by CRISM team. Finally, it can be stated that MRO has indeed proven to be extremely useful in gathering information and acquiring knowledge regarding Martian surface. Works Cited “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Design Approach for High-Resolution Surface Imaging.” American Astronautical Society. 2003. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. Dickson, James L., James W. Head and Caleb I. Fassett. “Patterns of Accumulation and flow Of Ice in the Mid-Latitudes of Mars during the Amazonian.” Icarus 219 (2012): 723–732. Print. Gainey, S. R., E. M. Hausrath, J. A. Hurowitz, and O. Tschauner. “Formation of Aqueous Minerals: Implications for The Past Habitability Of Mars.” Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2014): 1-2. Print. Glotch, T. D., J. L. Bandfield, J. Wolff and J. A. Arnold. “Chloride Salt Deposits on Mars—No Longer Putative. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2013): 1-2. Print. “Instruments.” National Aeronautics and Space Administration. n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.” National Aeronautics and Space Administration. n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. “Mission.” NASA. n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. Read More