This artist's concept represents the "Follow the Water" theme of NASA's
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. The orbiter's science instruments
monitor the present water cycle in the Mars atmosphere and the associated
deposition and sublimation of water ice on the surface, while probing the
subsurface to see how deep the water-ice reservoir detected by Mars
Odyssey extends. At the same time, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will search
for surface features and minerals (such as carbonates and sulfates) that
record the extended presence of liquid water on the surface earlier in the
planet's history. The instruments involved are the Shallow Subsurface
Radar, the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, the Mars
Color Imager, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, the Context
Camera and the Mars Climate Sounder.
To the far left, the radar antenna beams down and "sees" into the first
few hundred feet (up to 1 kilometer) of Mars' crust. Just to the right of
that, the next beam highlights the data received from the imaging
spectrometer, which identifies minerals on the surface. The next beam
represents the high-resolution camera, which can "zoom in" on local
targets, providing the highest-resolution orbital images yet of features
such as craters and gullies and rocks.
The beam that shines almost horizontally is that of the Mars Climate
Sounder. This instrument is critical to analyzing the current climate of
Mars since it observes the temperature, humidity, and dust content of the
martian atmosphere, and their seasonal and year-to-year variations.
Meanwhile, the Mars Color Imager observes ice clouds, dust clouds and
hazes, and the ozone distribution, producing daily global maps in
multiple colors to monitor daily weather and seasonal changes.
The electromagnetic spectrum is represented on the top right and
individual instruments are placed where their capability lies.