Mro-launch qxp

Media Services Information

NASA Television Transmission

NASA TV is carried on the Web and on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite

AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polariza-

tion. It's available in Alaska and Hawaii on AMC-7, at 137 degrees west longitude,

transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast com-

pliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is required for reception. For NASA TV information

and schedules on the Web, visit: www.nasa.gov/ntv

Launch Media Credentialing

News media representatives who would like to cover the launch in person must be

accredited through the NASA Kennedy Space Center newsroom. Journalists may con-

tact the newsroom at 321/867-2468 for more information.

Briefings

An overview of the mission will be presented in a news briefing broadcast on NASA

Television originating from NASA Headquarters in Washington at 1 p.m. EDT July 21.

Pre-launch briefings at Kennedy Space Center are scheduled at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

EDT Aug. 8, 2005. Specific information about upcoming briefings, as they are sched-

uled, will be kept current on the Internet at www.nasa.gov/mro

Internet Information

Extensive information on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project including an elec-

tronic copy of this press kit, press releases, fact sheets, status reports, briefing sched-

ule and images, is available at www.nasa.gov/mro . More detailed information on the

mission is available at the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project website at

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro 

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Quick Facts

Orbiter 

Dimensions: Height 6.5 meters (21 feet) with 3-meter-diameter (10-foot) dish antenna; 

width 13.6 meters (45 feet) with pair of 5.35- by 2.53-meter (17.56- by 8.30-foot) 

solar panels

Mass: 2,180 kilograms (4,806 pounds) total at launch, consisting of 139 kilograms 

(306 pounds) science payload, 892 kilograms (1,967 pounds) other dry weight, 

plus 1,149 kilograms (2,533 pounds) of propellant and pressurant

Power: 20 square meters (220 square feet) of solar panels providing 2,000 watts at 

mission's farthest point from the Sun, plus nickel-hydrogen batteries for periods

when the panels are not in sunshine

Science instruments: Hyper-spectral imaging spectrometer, very-high-resolution 

camera, context camera, color camera, climate sounder, shallow subsurface 

radar

Launch Vehicle

Type: Atlas V-401 (two-stage Atlas booster with Centaur upper stage)

Height with payload: 57.4 meters (188 feet)

Mass fully fueled: 333,000 kilograms (730,000 pounds)

Mission

Launch location: Pad LC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

Launch period: August 10 to September 5, 2005

Earth-Mars distance on August 10, 2005: 116 million kilometers (72 million miles)

Mars arrival: March 10 to March 16, 2006 (depending on launch date)

Earth-Mars distance on March 10, 2006: 215 million kilometers (134 million miles)

One-way speed-of-light time from Mars to Earth on March 10, 2006: 12 minutes

Total distance traveled, Earth to Mars: About 500 million kilometers (310 million miles)

Aerobraking phase: March to October 2006

Primary science phase: November 2006 to December 2008

Orbit during science phase: Near-polar orbit at altitudes ranging from 255 kilometers 

(158 miles) to 320 kilometers (199 miles); 112 minutes per orbit

Quantity of planned science data return: 26 terabits or more

Communications relay phase: January 2009 to December 2010 (mission extensions

possible)

Program

Cost: About $720 million total, consisting approximately of $450 million spacecraft

development and science instruments; $90 million launch; $180 million mission 

operations, science processing and relay support for 5.5 years

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Mars at a Glance

General

One of five planets known to ancients; Mars was Roman god of war, agriculture and the

state

Yellowish brown to reddish color; occasionally the third brightest object in the night sky after

the Moon and Venus

Physical Characteristics

Average diameter 6,780 kilometers (4,212 miles); about half the size of Earth, but twice the

size of Earth's Moon

Same land area as Earth, reminiscent of a rocky desert

Mass 1/10th of Earth's; gravity only 38 percent as strong as Earth's

Density 3.9 times greater than water (compared to Earth's 5.5 times greater than water)

No planet-wide magnetic field detected; only localized ancient remnant fields in various

regions

Orbit

Fourth planet from the Sun, the next beyond Earth

About 1.5 times farther from the Sun than Earth is

Orbit elliptical; distance from Sun varies from a minimum of 206.7 million kilometers (128.4

millions miles) to a maximum of 249.2 million kilometers (154.8 million miles); average distance

from the Sun 227.7 million kilometers (141.5 million miles)

Revolves around Sun once every 687 Earth days

Rotation period (length of day) 24 hours, 39 min, 35 sec (1.027 Earth days)

Poles tilted 25 degrees, creating seasons similar to Earth's

Environment

Atmosphere composed chiefly of carbon dioxide (95.3%), nitrogen (2.7%) and argon (1.6%)

Surface atmospheric pressure less than 1/100th that of Earth's average

Surface winds up to 40 meters per second (80 miles per hour)

Local, regional and global dust storms; also whirlwinds called dust devils

Surface temperature averages -53 C (-64 F); varies from -128 C (-199 F) during polar night

to 27 

(80 F) at equator during midday at closest point in orbit to Sun

Features

Highest point is Olympus Mons, a huge shield volcano about 26 kilometers (16 miles) high

and 600 kilometers (370 miles) across; has about the same area as Arizona

Canyon system of Valles Marineris is largest and deepest known in solar system; extends

more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) and has 5 to 10 kilometers (3 to 6 miles) relief from

floors to tops of surrounding plateaus

Moons

Two irregularly shaped moons, each only a few kilometers wide

Larger moon named Phobos ("fear"); smaller is Deimos ("terror"), named for attributes per-

sonified in Greek mythology as sons of the god of war

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