Data Release Schedule
  • HiRISE, CTX, MARCI
Atlas III Product Search
  • Select from MRO
  • Atlas III Tutorial
Online Data Volumes
  • HiRISE, CTX, MARCI
Documentation
  • MRO Documents
Tutorials
  • Working with HiRISE Data
  • Working with CTX Data
Photojournal
  • Images from MRO
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About the Mission
  • Mission Home Page
  • Mission Overview
  • Archive Information
     for All Instruments
  • Solar System Exploration
  • NSSDC
  • Views of the Solar System
About the Science
  • Science Summary
Instrument Teams
  • CTX
  • MARCI
  • HiRISE

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), launched August 12, 2005, is on a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time. While other Mars missions have shown that water flowed across the surface in Mars' history, it remains a mystery whether water was ever around long enough to provide a habitat for life. MRO successfully arrived at Mars on March 10, 2006. The mission has shown unprecedented detail in orbital images of Mars.
  In its survey of the red planet, MRO will increase tenfold the number of spots surveyed close-up. One of the MRO cameras is the largest ever flown on a planetary mission. While previous cameras on other Mars orbiters could identify objects no smaller than a school bus, this camera will be able to spot something as small as a dinner table. That capability will also allow the orbiter to identify obstacles like large rocks that could jeopardize the safety of future landers and rovers. Its imaging spectrometer will also be able to look at small-scale areas about five times smaller than a football field, at a scale perfect for identifying any hot springs or other small water features.
  The orbiter also carries an experimental navigation camera. If it performs well, similar cameras placed on orbiters of the future would be able to serve as high-precision interplanetary "eyes" to guide incoming landers to precise landings on Mars, opening up exciting -- but otherwise dangerous -- areas of the planet to exploration.

MRO Instruments
  • Accelerometer
  • CRISM – Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars
  • CTX – Context Camera
  • Gravity/Radio Science
  • HiRISE – High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
  • MARCI – Mars Color Imager
  • MCS – Mars Climate Sounder
  • SHARAD – Shallow Radar

The Imaging Node archives CTX, HiRISE and MARCI science data. The Geosciences Node, lead archiving node for MRO, has information about archive responsibilities for other instruments.
  The CTX is currently orbiting Mars and acquiring grayscale (black & white) images at 6 meters per pixel scale over a swath 30 kilometers wide. CTX provides context images for HiRISE and CRISM, is used to monitor changes occurring on the planet, acquires stereo pairs of select critical science targets. CTX data sets are produced by the CTX Team at Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego.
  The MARCI, a miniature color imager, takes pictures used to monitor the weather by observing the entire planet every day at 5 visible and 2 ultraviolet wavelengths. MARCI will observe dust storms, polar frost, and clouds of water vapor, water ice, and carbon dioxide crystals. The MARCI Team at Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, produces MARCI data sets.
  The HiRISE camera is a pushbroom imaging system featuring a 0.5 m aperture telescope with a 12 m focal effective length and 14 CCD detectors capable of generating images of up to 20,000 cross-scan observation pixels and 65,000 unbinned scan lines. The HiRISE instrument capabilities include the acquisition of observations of the Mars surface from orbit with a ground sampling dimension between 25 and 32 cm/pixel. HiRISE data sets are produced by the HiRISE Team at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Tucson.

Mission Documents
  • Project Data Archive Generation, Validation and Transfer Plan
  • Mission Description
  • Spacecraft Description

Instrument and Data Archive Information
  • CTX
  • EDR Dataset Description
  • Instrument Description
  • Instrument Description Paper
  • Personnel
  • References
  • EDR Data Product SIS
  • EDR Archive Volume SIS
  • Calibration Process Description
  • HiRISE
  • EDR Dataset Description
  • RDR Dataset Description
  • Data Set Map Projection Information
  • Instrument Description
  • Personnel
  • References
  • EDR Data Product SIS
  • RDR Data Product SIS
  • EDR & RDR Archive Volume SIS
  • MARCI
  • EDR Dataset Description
  • Instrument Description
  • Instrument Description Paper
  • Personnel
  • References
  • EDR Data Product SIS
  • EDR Archive Volume SIS
  • Calibration Process Description