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Results for “Mars Reconnaissance Orbitor”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS2006

MRO Ka-Band Demonstration

This viewgraph presentation reviews the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter use of the Ka-band. Due to lack of spectrum at X-band (8.41 GHz) NASA is switching to Ka-band (32 GHz) for its Deep Space Missions. This is 50 MHz bandwidth at X-band vs. 500 MHz at Ka-band. Weather events cause a greater degradation for the Ka-band link. Therefore, the Ka-band needs to be operated in a different manner than the X-band. The Ka-band achieves a maximum average capacity at a lower weather reliability than X-band (80 to 90% for Ka-band vs. 95% for X-band). Studies have been done to suggest different methods of operation for Ka-band. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will allow us to evaluate the proposed methods of operations for the Ka-band The MRO is the first spacecraft to have a fully functioning independent Ka-band downlink stream.

Ka-band demonstration↗
NASA NTRS2007

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission: From Launch to the Primary Science Orbit

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA, aboard an Atlas V-401 launch vehicle on August 12, 2005. The MRO spacecraft carries a very sophisticated scientific payload. Its primary science mission is to to provide global, regional survey, and targeted observations from a low altitude orbit for one Martian year (687 Earth days). After a seven month interplanetary transit, the spacecraft fired its six main engines and established a highly elliptical capture orbit at Mars. During the post-MOI early check-out period, four instruments acquired engineering-quality data. This was followed by five months of aerobraking operations. After aerobraking was terminated, a series of propulsive maneuvers were used to establish the desired low altitude science orbit. As the spacecraft is readied for its primary science mission, spacecraft and instrument checkout and deployment activities have continued.

orbiters↗