Breaking

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: 15 key milestones to celebrate 15 years in space - Space.com
Aug 12, 2020 2 mins, 19 secs

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched from Earth 15 years ago.

12, 2005, NASA launched the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on top of an Atlas V rocket.

The enhanced color image, taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera in March 2007, shows an area of the Nili Fossae region.

When MRO revisited the layered terrain at the north polar cap in the Martian spring, scientists hoped to study how carbon dioxide frosts evaporate from underlying sand dunes.

Further observations confirmed that similar avalanches recur in Martian spring, and are probably triggered when blocks of dust-laden dry ice collapse as frozen carbon dioxide slowly thaws.

The MRO team turned the HiRISE camera away from Mars to image its two satellites, Phobos and Deimos, at the highest resolution yet obtained.

Prior to MRO’s arrival, an important question for researchers was the nature of the water that had clearly run on the planet’s surface in its past.

On Earth, water action on rocks converts them into carbonate minerals such as chalk and limestone through weathering, but acidic water tends to dissolve carbonates.

In 2008, however, MRO’s mineral imager, Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), discovered the first signs of carbonates exposed at the surface (appearing green in this image of the Nili Fossae canyon system).

Using the CRISM spectrometer, researchers targeted several craters and identified multiple signatures from hydrated, claylike minerals (such as those shown in the image of Lyot Crater).

The existence of dust devils on the Martian surface had been suspected since the 1970s, but MRO surprised everyone by delivering stunning images of these tornado-like whirlwinds in action.

Dust devils scour the Martian surface, clearing it of dust and frequently leaving scribble-like dark trails exposing the underlying bedrock.

In 2012, a team of scientists announced a new analysis of this data, confirming the presence of a huge carbon dioxide snow cloud, some 310 miles (500 kilometers) across, hovering over the south pole.

Using the HiRISE camera, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snaps the region called Acidalia Planitia, which is featured in the bestselling novel and movie, "The Martian" (Del Rey, 2015)!

After MRO’s confirmation of carbonate minerals on Mars in 2008, the hunt was on to discover larger deposits.

In 2015, scientists identified the largest carbonate region so far in Nili Fossae — exposed carbonates are colored green in this composite of CRISM data and a HiRISE image.

The presence of large carbonate deposits supports the idea that ancient surface water was amenable to the development of life.

Following the discovery of "recurring slope lineae" in 2011, evidence for water on the surface of Mars remained frustratingly elusive

In 2015, scientists use the CRISM spectrometer to find the next best thing — the distinctive signature of freshly formed hydrated minerals (chemical compounds with water locked into their structure). 

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED