NASA Mars Orbiter Learns New Moves After Nearly 20 Years in Space
The Mars recognition orbiter tests a series of large spacecraft Breads that will help him chase water.
After almost 20 years of operations, the NASA Mars recognition orbit (MRO) is on a role, performing a new maneuver to extract even more science from the spacecraft, when it goes around the red planet. The engineers have essentially taught the probe to roll so that it is almost upside down. This allows Mro to look more deep underground when he is looking for liquid and frozen water, among others.
The new capacity is detailed in an article recently published in the Planetary Science Journal documenting three “very major roles”, as the mission called them, which were carried out between 2023 and 2024.
“Not only can you teach an old spatial new tips, but you can fully open new regions of the subsoil to explore by doing so,” said one of the authors of the newspaper, Gareth Morgan of the Planetaire Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.
The orbiter was initially designed to drive up to 30 degrees in any direction so that he can point his instruments on surface targets, including potential landing sites, impact craters, etc.
“We are unique in that the entire spacecraft and its software are designed to allow us to ride all the time,” said Reid Thomas, MRO project manager at Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA in Southern California.
The rolling process is not easy. The spacecraft contains five operational science instruments that have different cutting -edge requirements. To target a specific place on the surface with an instrument, the orbiter must run in a particular way, which means that the other instruments can have a less favorable view of March during the maneuver.
This is why each ordinary role is scheduled for weeks in advance, with teams of instruments who negotiate that leads science and when. Then, an algorithm checks the position of MRO above March and automatically commands the orbiter to roll so that the appropriate instrument points to the right place of the surface. At the same time, the algorithm controls the solar networks of the space machine to turn and follow the sun and its high gain antenna to follow the earth to maintain power and communications.
The very large rollers, which are 120 degrees, require even more planning to maintain the safety of the spaceship. The gain is that the new maneuver allows a particular instrument, called the shallow radar (Sharad), to have a deeper vision of March than ever.
Designed to group about half a thousand at just over a mile (1 to 2 kilometers) underground, Sharad allows scientists to distinguish between materials such as rock, sand and ice. The radar was particularly useful for determining where the ice could be found close to the surface that future astronauts could one day access it. The ice will be essential to produce a rocket propergol for the return trip and is important to find out more about the climate, geology and life potential in Mars.
But as large as Sharad, the team knew it could be even better.
To give cameras like the main vision of the science of high resolution imaging (Hrise) at the front of Mro, the two Sharad antenna segments were mounted at the back of the orbiter. Although this configuration helps the cameras, it also means that the Sharad radio signals ping on the surface below the meeting of parts of the spaceship, interfering with the signals and causing less clear images.
“The Sharad instrument has been designed for quasi-subsurface, and there are certain regions of March which are just out of reach for us,” said Morgan, a co-researcher of the Sharad team. “There is a lot to gain by examining these regions more closely.”
In 2023, the team decided to try to develop rollers of very large degrees at 120 degrees to provide radio waves with a path without obstruction on the surface. What they have found is that the maneuver can strengthen the radar signal of 10 times or more, offering a much clearer image of the Martian subsoil.
But the roller is so large that the communication antenna of the spacecraft is not pointed out on earth, and its solar paintings are unable to follow the sun.
“The very large rollers require a special analysis to ensure that we will have enough power in our batteries to make the jet safely,” said Thomas.
Given the time involved, the mission is limited to one or two very large rolls per year. But engineers hope to use them more often by rationalizing the process.
While Sharad scientists benefit from these new movements, the team working with another MRO instrument, the Spender of Mars Climate, draws the best side of the standard roller capacity of Mro.
The JPL instrument built by JPL is a radiometer which is one of the most detailed sources available of information on the Mars atmosphere. Measuring subtle temperature changes during many seasons, the Mars Climate sounder reveals the internal functioning of dust storms and the formation of clouds. Dust and wind are important to understand: they constantly reshape the Martian surface, with solar dust panels transmitted by the wind and posing a risk to the health of future astronauts.
The Stern of Mars Climate was designed to pivot on a cardan so that he can obtain views of the horizon and the Martian surface. It also offers space views, which scientists use to calibrate the instrument. But in 2024, the aging cardan became unreliable. Now, the Stern of Mars Climate relies on the standard MRO rolls.
“The rolling used to restrict our science,” said the acting principal researcher from Mars Climate Stern, Armin Kleinboehl of JPL, “but we incorporated it into our routine planning, both for surface views and calibration.”
The NASA propulsion laboratory in southern California manages the MRO for the agency’s scientific mission management in Washington as part of its Mars Exploration Program portfolio. The Sharad instrument was provided by the Italian space agency. Its operations are led by the University of Sapienza in Rome, and its data is analyzed by a team of joint American sciences. The Institute of Planetary Sciences of Tucson, Arizona, leads us to participation in the United States in Sharad. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built Mro and supports its operations.
For more information, visit:
science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-conconnesance-orbiter
Andrew good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
818-393-2433
Andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA seat, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
2025-084
