NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter lives up to expectations

As NASA’s latest Mars probe begins its observations from low orbit, speculation is up about it revealing new clues about recent and ancient environments on the Red Planet.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is expected to answer questions about the history and distribution of Mars' water by combining data from the orbiter's high-resolution camera, imaging spectrometer, context camera, ground-penetrating radar, atmospheric sounder, global color camera, radio and accelerometers, according to a NASA press release.

The Mars orbiter has the most advanced and powerful instruments of the four science satellites circling the planet and will be returning more than 10 times the quantity of data during its two-year mission than all the other probes combined.

The orbiter will begin its primary science mission in early November, when Mars emerges from behind the sun.

The images and the data collected between September 29 and October 6 reflect dozens of sites depicting different episodes in Mars' history.

Observations of a southern-hemisphere crater show fine-scale details of more recent gullies, showing evidence that they were carved by flowing water.

"The teams are getting amazing science data," said Steve Saunders, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington. "They are ready to fulfill the mission's science objectives and to support other Mars missions."

One image already is helping the Mars Exploration Rover team choose a route, to explore Victoria crater, now being visited by the Mars rover ‘Opportunity’.

The images are also likely to be of great help in planning the route and the tests for the next Mars mission ‘Phoenix Mars Lander’ scheduled to launch in August 2007, which is being designed to measure gases and liquids (especially water) and complex organic molecules in the arctic plains of Mars.

This will be followed in 2009 by the Mars Science Laboratory, a larger version of the twin robotic geologists Spirit and Opportunity, which have been traversing the planet’s surface since 2004.

"The images are truly beautiful, and since they resolve features the size of people, you can visualize yourself hiking around in these diverse terrains," said Dr. Alfred McEwen, one of the mission's principal investigators, at a press conference.

On this occasion, President George W. Bush has urged NASA to focus on getting people to the moon and Mars, although a manned mission to Mars is still many years away.