Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection
Title:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Pole
Original Caption Released with Image:
December 10, 2003

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes over the planet's south polar region in this artist's concept illustration.

NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions.

The orbiter's shallow radar experiment, one of six science instruments on board, is designed to probe the internal structure of Mars' polar ice caps, as well as to gather information planet-wide about underground layers of ice, rock and, perhaps, liquid water that might be accessible from the surface.

Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, appears in the upper left corner of the illustration

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. JPL's main industrial partner in the project, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency is providing the radar instrument.
Image Credit:
JPL/NASA
Produced By:
JPL
Mission:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Spacecraft:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Product Size:
6125 samples x 4850 lines
facet_what:
Polar
facet_what:
Mars
facet_what:
MRO
facet_what:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
facet_what:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
Denver
facet_where:
Mars
facet_where:
California
facet_where:
Washington
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
August 2005
facet_when:
December 10, 2003
facet_when_year:
2003
facet_when_year:
2005
Image #:
PIA04918
UID:
SPD-PHOTJ-PIA04918
orignial url:

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Pole