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Next Mars Mission Will Look for Landing Sites

Posted by michael on from the beachhead dept.

fenimor writes "NASA's next mission to Mars to be launched on Aug. 10, 2005 - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - will examine potential landing sites and provide a high-data-rate communications relay for for future surface missions. Weighing 2,180 kilograms, the spacecraft will be the largest ever to orbit Mars and with the largest telescopic camera ever sent into orbit around another planet, will reveal Mars surface features as small as a kitchen table."

1 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing much to see here... by karrde · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Call me again in 2 years after it's taken it's first photo...

    300 days till launch
    7 months to orbital insertion, and
    6 months before it reachs a stable operational orbit.

    so it's 2006 before we get a photo, and probably mid to late 2007 before a spot is chosen... and then they'll start planning a mission... guess we're going to miss that 2010 date...