With the shuttle Discovery astronauts safely back on Earth, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to keep the good times rolling in space today with the launch of a Mars orbiter that is supposed to unravel the riddle of what happened to the planet's water.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is designed to collect more data than all previous probes. When it reaches the planet in March, it will join two other orbiting NASA satellites and, incredibly, the space agency's two land rovers.
The rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, were designed to last about six months after landing in January 2004 but have kept rolling and collecting data after 19 months.
"We're planning for another year,'' said Rongxing Li, an Ohio State University mapping specialist who heads a team mapping the rovers' travels.
Launch of the $720 million orbiter mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was delayed yesterday to allow technicians to check gyroscopes aboard the Atlas V booster.
Blastoff is now scheduled for between 7:50 and 9:35 a.m. The mission can be launched until Sept. 5, when Mars and Earth, now close, will be too far apart to make the trip.
"This is why we plan a three-week opportunity,'' said Todd Bayer, an orbiter flight-systems engineer.
When it goes to work in September 2006, the 4,800-pound spacecraft's cameras, radar, weather and chemical-analysis equipment will study Mars' surface, subsurface and atmosphere, looking for telltale signs of water.
"We will keep pursuing a follow-the-water strategy,'' said Michael Meyer, NASA's chief Mars scientist.
"Learning what has happened to the water will focus searches for possible Martian life, past or present.''
There are lots of signs. One of the Mars rovers identified what was once a shallow lake. The Mars Odyssey orbiter identified freshly carved rivulets under ice. The presence of water in a protected environment under ice would be a place to look for microscopic life, Bayer said.
Ultrahigh-resolution cameras aboard the latest orbiter will snap pictures of the surface with six times the sharpness of previous instruments.
"Every time a spacecraft looks at Mars with higher resolution, there are things we discover,'' Bayer said. "We'll be able to resolve things to about 1 (yard).
"Most of the science there is geology, so small features can be important, to identify stream channels for example.''
Mars missions can be launched about every 26 months.
The next mission, the Phoenix Mars Scout, is scheduled to land far in the planet's northern hemisphere in 2007. The Mars Science Laboratory, an advanced rover the size of a minivan, is scheduled for launch in 2009.
While hopes are high for the orbiter, the twin rovers are NASA's most spectacular Mars success. The space agency has given engineers carte blanche to operate them until they quit.
Armed with cameras, a microscope, drill, scraper and chemical-analysis equipment, the rovers have each traveled more than 2.5 miles, exploring opposite sides of the planet.
Spirit has spent the last several weeks traveling to the top of a 300-foot-tall rise in an area called the Columbia Hills. Opportunity spent a month stuck in a Martian sand trap until it freed itself in July.
Li said scientists want to systematically explore the areas around the rover landing sites over the next 12 months.
"Another year is basically not a big deal,'' he said. "There is no sign of deterioration on any parts.''
mlafferty@dispatch.com
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