Timeline of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Major events in the launch, aerobraking, and transition phases of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ("MRO").

Launch and cruise timeline

* April 30, 2005: the "MRO" spacecraft was delivered to the launch site.
* August 9, 2005: the August 10 launch opportunity was postponed because of reliability concerns over the Atlas V's gyroscopes.
* August 10, 2005: concerns over the gyroscopes were resolved. Launch was scheduled for 7:50 am EST, August 11.
* August 11, 2005: concerns over weather cause a rescheduling of the launch to 9:00 am EST. Conflicting sensor readings during fueling of the Centaur stage's liquid hydrogen fuel tank could not be corrected in time, causing the launch to be scrubbed and rescheduled for 7:43 am EST August 12. [cite web|url=http://cbs5.com/topstories/topstories_story_223092831.html|title=NASA Delays Mars Orbiter Launch (August 11, 2005)|work=CBS-5 - San Francisco |accessdate=May 27|accessyear=2006]
* August 12, 2005: at 7:43 am EST, "MRO" was launched. There were no significant anomalies reported during launch and deployment into interplanetary transfer orbit.
* August 15, 2005: MARCI was tested and calibrated.
* August 25, 2005: at 15:19:32 UTC, "MRO" was 100 million kilometers from Mars.
* August 27, 2005: the first trajectory correction maneuver was executed. The burn used the same main thrusters that are needed for the orbital insertion maneuver and lasted 15 seconds. A velocity change of 7.8 m/s was achieved.
* September 8, 2005: "MRO" completed calibration and testing of the HiRISE and CTX cameras by taking pictures of the Moon from 10 million kilometers away.
* November 18, 2005: "MRO" underwent its second scheduled course correction by firing its 6 medium thrusters for 20 seconds and changing its velocity by 75 cm/s.
* January 29, 2006: at 06:59:24 UTC, "MRO" was 10 million kilometers from Mars.
* February 3, 2006: "MRO" began the Approach Phase, in preparation for orbital insertion.

Orbital insertion/ Aerobraking timeline

* March 10, 2006: "MRO" successfully completed orbital insertion.
* March 23, 2006: test images from three of "MRO"'s cameras were taken. HiRISE images were taken over the course of two orbits, the first returned from a height of 2500 km (at about ten times poorer resolution than when the camera is in its final orbit). The CTX and MARCI cameras also took test images. [cite web|url=http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060321_mro_update.html|title=New Mars Orbiter Ready for Action|work=Space.com|accessdate=March 24|accessyear=2006] [cite web|url=http://www.space.com/news/060324_mro_hirise.html|title=First Images Beamed Back by Mars Probe|work=Space.com|accessdate=March 24|accessyear=2006]
* March 30, 2006: "MRO" fired its intermediate thrusters for 58 seconds and dropped its periapsis by 94 km, in preparation to begin aerobraking.
* April 7, 2006: "MRO" begins a seven month long Aerobraking Stage to reduce its highly elliptical orbit to a circular, low Mars orbit by mid-November.
* August 30, 2006: Aerobraking ended with a 6 minute burn of "MRO"'s Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) thrusters. [cite web|url=http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060830_mro_brake.html|title=Mars Orbiter Successfully Makes Big Burn|accessdate=September 27|accessyear=2006]
* September 5, 2006: The first of two burns to correctly position "MRO" into its final science orbit was performed.
* September 11, 2006: The second of two burns to finalize "MRO"'s orbit was performed, officially ending the Aerobraking Stage.

Transition timeline

* September 16, 2006: SHARAD was successfully deployed from "MRO". [cite web|url=http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/newsroom/pressreleases/20060919a.html|title=AGround-Piercing Radar on NASA Mars Orbiter Ready for Work|accessdate=September 27|accessyear=2006]
* September 24, 2006: MCS and MARCI commenced operations, commencing a martian weather forecast.
* September 27, 2006: CRISM was powered on for the first time in space, and its lens cap was removed. In addition, SHARAD, HiRISE, and CTX were also powered on for the first time. [cite web|url=http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2006/060927.asp|title=APL-Built Mineral-Mapping Imager Begins Mission at Mars|accessdate=September 27|accessyear=2006]
* September 28, 2006: CRISM took its first picture at Mars.

Mission events

* September 29, 2006: All instruments will be tested from the science orbit.
* October 5, 2006: Instruments will be powered down for the Solar Conjunction.
* November 2006: Primary Science Phase (PSP) commences.
* 2008-05-25: HiRISE photographs "Phoenix" during its descent through the Martian atmosphere to a landing in Vastitas Borealis, making MRO the first probe to photograph another probe landing on the surface of another planet (not including our Moon).

References