- Original Caption Released with Image:
-
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) launches at 7:43 a.m. EDT atop a
Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station in Florida on Aug. 12. All systems performed nominally
for NASA's first Atlas V launch. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in
March 2006. Once in orbit around Mars, various instruments on the MRO
will convey detailed observations of the Martian surface, subsurface and
atmosphere. Researchers will use the data to study the history and
distribution of Martian water. Learning more about what has happened to
the water will focus searches for possible past or present Martian life.
Observations by the orbiter will also support future Mars missions by
examining potential landing sites and providing a communications relay
between the Martian surface and Earth.
- Image Credit:
-
NASA/JPL/KSC/Lockheed Martin Space Systems
|
